<b>Decision of Note:</b><b>Foreign Website Subject to DC Jurisdiction</b>

In this suit for copyright infringement, among other things, the court first found that the affidavit of one DC resident who had used the defendant's puretunes.com was sufficient to establish that the defendant was subject to specific jurisdiction by “transacting any business” in the district. On the issue of general jurisdiction, the court noted that it wasn't necessary for DC residents to have subscribed to puretunes.com. Rather, the Web site's offer of an initial 25 free tunes to users amounted to “active solicitation.” “Whether or not defendant's advertising plan was targeted at District of Columbia residents specifically, by signing up District residents to this free trial period defendant entered a business relationship with District residents,” the district court emphasized. “The 24 hour availability of downloadable files and transfer of files to those customers in the District is exactly the sort of purposeful, active, systematic, and continuous activity in the District of Columbia that constitutes 'doing business.' ”

But the court was hindered in determining puretunes.com's actual DC customers because the defendant had erased relevant information on its servers. “Defendant's argument that it destroyed crucial evidence to prevent further transfer of music files is without doubt one of the most ludicrous arguments ever visited upon this Court,” the district judge wrote. The plaintiff's computer expert had nevertheless been able to recover a small amount of information from the servers. The court found the data sufficient to establish continuous and systematic contacts with the District of Columbia.