Spacey

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

I.

INTRODUCTION

The present case presents complex issues involving the right of a celebrity to bring suit in United States District Court for the alleged misappropriation of his name by a foreign internet website operator. However, in this order, the Court does not reach these issues because Defendants raise a novel threshold question regarding the exercise of personal jurisdiction where the Defendants’ “contacts” with the forum have occurred in cyberspace. The Court therefore takes up that issue first.

Kevin Spacey, the well-known movie actor, claims Defendant Jeffrey Burgar mis appropriated Spacers name by registering and using the internet website address “kevinspacey.com” without Spacey’s authorization. Responding that he needn’t obtain authorization, Burgar admits to having registered the address, and to having used the address from 1996 to the present. The undisputed facts establish that from 1996 to about December 2000, those who attempted to access “kevinspacey.com” were routed to Burgar’s “Celebrity 1000” website; since then, those typing “kevin-spacey.com” into their web browsers have been directed to the “Unofficial Kevin…