ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION (Docket No. 8)
Plaintiff Coremetrics, Inc. (“Coreme-trics”) filed suit against Defendant Atomic-Park.com- LLC (“AtomicPark”) in state court, asserting claims for (1) breach of written contract, (2) fraud, (3) concealment and suppression of facts, (4) accounted stated, (5) open book account, and (6) quantum meruit. Subsequently, Atomic-Park removed the case to federal court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. Atomic-Park then filed a motion to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction. Having considered the parties’ briefs and accompanying submissions, as well as the oral argument of counsel, the Court hereby DENIES the motion to dismiss.
Coremetrics is a Delaware corporation that transacts business in Californiа. See Compl. ¶ 1. It helps companies increase their e-business by capturing and analyzing all online visitor and customer interactions. See Compl. ¶ 1; see also Resnick Decl. ¶2 (“Coremetrics is an online marketing analytics platform that captures visitor clickstream and purchase activity on our clients’ websites in specialized data collection servers.”).
AtomicPark is a Wisconsin LLC. See Compl. ¶ 8. It is “a software e-tailer, which essentially means [it is] a retailer on line and [it] primarily sell[s] software to both businesses and consumers.” Farrer Decl., Ex. H at 5 (Boldin deposition). On or about September 26, 2002, AtomicPark hired Coremetrics to provide professional services in connection with analyzing and making recommendations for improving AtomicPark’s website. See Compl. ¶ 8. Coremetrics and AtomicPark signed a MarketForce Services Agreement. See id. & Ex. A. Thereafter, Coremetrics sent an invoice to AtomicPark for $29,000-consti-tuting initial service and implementation fees-and provided its services to Atomic-Park. See id. ¶¶ 8, 10.
On or about September 16, 2003, Corem-etrics sent a demand letter to AtomicPark for payment of the $29,000 invoice. See id. ¶ 11. AtomicPark, however, did not pay. See id. On or about October 15, 2003, Plaintiff invoiced AtomicPark for the total amount due under the Agreement-a total of $103,812.60 (including the $29,000 for the first invoice and interest that had accrued). See id. ¶ 12. Once again, Atomic-Park did not pay.
Subsequently, Coremetrics sued Atomic-Park for (1) breach of written contract, (2) fraud, (3) concealment and suppression of facts, (4) accounted stated, (5) open book account, and (6) quantum meruit.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Legal Standard
In its motion, AtomicPark argues that this case should be dismissed because the Court does not have general jurisdiction over AtomicPark. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) governs dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction.
See Doe v. Unocal Corp.,
B. General Jurisdiction
Where there is no applicable federal statute governing personal jurisdiction, a court applies the law of the state in which the district court sits.
See Schwarzenegger,
There are two kinds of personal jurisdiction: general jurisdiction and specific jurisdiction. In its motion to dismiss, Atom-icPark argues that this Court has neither general nor specific jurisdiction over it. In its opposition, Coremetrics only argues that this Court has general jurisdiction. 3
“General jurisdiction refers to jurisdiction to adjudicate claims that do not arise from the defendant’s contacts with the forum state. Thus, if a defendant is amenable to general jurisdiction in a state, the state may exercise jurisdiction over the defendant based on any claim, including claims unrelated to the defendant’s contacts with the state.” 16-108 Moore’s Fed. Prac.-Civ. § 108.40;
see also Synopsys, Inc. v. Ricoh Co., Ltd.,
For general jurisdiction to exist over a defendant, the defendant must engage in “substantial” or “continuous and systematic” contacts that approximate physical presence in the forum state.
4
See Schwar
The Ninth Circuit has stated that, when a court determines whether or not there is general jurisdiction over a defendant, “[factors to be taken into consideration are whether the defendant makes sales, solicits or engages in business in the state, serves the state’s markets, designates an agent for service of process, holds a license, or is incorporated there.”
Bancroft,
Finally, even if a court concludes that substantial, or continuous and systematic, contacts exist, the assertion of general jurisdiction must still be reasonable.
See Amoco Egypt Oil Co. v. Leonis Navigation Co.,
Inc.,
C. AtomicPark’s Contacts with California
In the instant case, Coremetrics contends that the Court does have general jurisdiction over AtomicPark based on the following contacts.
(1) AtomicPark’s highly interactive website, which is the means by which AtomicPark sells its products and which is accessible to California consumers. See Supp. Farrer Decl. ¶ 2 & Exs. A-B (noting that, to purchase software from AtomicPark, customer must set up an account and provide AtomicPark with name, address, telephone number, credit card payment information, and billing and shipping addresses; adding that, after a purchase is made, AtomicPark sends e-mails to customer, one thanking customer for registration with AtomicPark, another thanking customer for order, and yet another providing customer with order tracking information and order confirmation number).
(2) AtomicPark’s sales to California consumers, which from April 2003 toFebruary 2004 was in excess of $8.3 million, or 14.71 percent of its total sales. According to AtomiePark’s president, 14.71 percent is a representative percentage of sales to California from year to year, from 1999 to 2002. 5 See Farrer Deck, Ex. F at 10 (Boldin deposition) (“I have nothing to believe that it would be very different from year to year; percentage wise, that is.”).
(3) AtomiePark’s advertising of its services through the Internet search engine Yahoo. See Farrer Deck, Ex. G (agreement under which Yahoo provides service called “Product Submit” to AtomicPark, which “enables Advertiser to submit its product information ... for consideration of inclusion in a Yahoo database that may be searched”); id., Ex. H at 20-21 (Boldin deposition). Yahoo has its principal place of business in California.
(4) AtomiePark’s advertising of its services through other Internet websites, including Price.com, CNET websites, and PriceGrabber.com. See id., Ex. G (agreements). Under the agreements with the third parties, the cost of advertising is not insignificant. See, e.g., Price.com (month-to-month contract under which cost of advertising is one-time set-up fee of $1,000 plus $0.85 per clickthrough, for monthly minimum of $1,500); CNET websites (five-year contract under which cost of advertising is $0.75 per clickthrough, plus at least $60,000 per month for advertising promotions); PriceGrabber.com (contract providing for three-month advertising campaign at cost of $12,500 per month plus clickthrough fee). Price.com and PriceGrab-ber.com both appear to have offices in California.
(5)AtomiePark’s purchases of products from California vendors, which between June 1, 2003, and May 31, 2004, were in excess of $1 million (approximately 5.1 percent of its total purchases). 6 See id. ¶ 6 & Ex. I.
(6) The four Internet advertising agreements entered into between Atomic-Park and third parties (ie., Yahoo, Price.com, CNET, and PriceGrab-ber.com) under which AtomicPark agreed to personal jurisdiction in California and/or application of California law. 7 See id., Ex. G (agreements).
As a preliminary matter, the Court acknowledges that these contacts taken individually would not be sufficient to confer general jurisdiction over AtomicPark.
First, it is true that the degree of interactiveness of a defendant’s website is a factor that informs the jurisdictional analysis.
See Gorman v. Ameritrade Holding Corp.,
However, the fact that AtomicPark maintains a highly interactive website
by itself
would not be enough to establish general jurisdiction, as a number of courts have found.
See, e.g., Estate of Stephen Bank v. Swiss Valley Farms, Co.,
[I]t is now common for businesses of all types to have an internet website, typically with interactive capability through which customers can communicate with the business and order products. If general jurisdiction were to be predicated on these types of contacts alone, most businesses would be subject to personal jurisdiction in every forum.
Id.; cf. Gorman,
Second, the fact that AtomicPark has agreements with several third parties with offices in California would not
by itself
give rise to general jurisdiction. The Ninth Circuit has made a point of differentiating between doing business
in
California and doing business
mth
California; the latter generally dоes not give rise to general jurisdiction “because engaging in commerce with residents of the forum state is not
in and of itself
the kind of activity that approximates physical presence within the state’s borders.”
Bancroft,
Third, the fact that AtomicPark’s purchases of products from California vendors, from June 1, 2003 to May 31, 2004, were in excess of $1 million (approximately 5.1 percent of its total software purchases) would not
by itself
establish general jurisdiction. In
Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall,
Fourth, the fact that AtomicPark had four Internet advertising agreements
The Court’s inquiry here, however, is not limited to an analysis of each of the above contacts taken in isolation. Rather, in determining whether there is general jurisdiction, the Court looks at the totality of the contacts—as noted above, the economic reality of AtomicPark’s activities.
See Gates Learjet,
First, AtomicPark admits that it is an “e-tailer, which essentially means [it is] a retailer on line.” Farrer Deck, Ex. H, at 5 (Boldin deposition);
see also
Supp. Farrer Decl. ¶ 2 (discussing purchase of software product from AtomicPark online). In other words, AtomicPark basically runs a “virtual store.” A virtual store is largely designed so as to aрproximate physical presence in a forum; for example, consumers may window shop by browsing the website and actual sales are made directly to consumers online. Also, as is evident from AtomicPark’s website (of which the Court takes judicial notice,
see
Fed. R.Evid. 201), consumers may contact AtomicPark for information and real-time assistance via the Internet or a toll-free number. In short, AtomicPark provides virtually all the same services that would be provided by a “bricks and mortar” software dealer.
Cf. Gorman,
Second, AtomicPark advertises its services over the Internet, including through Yahoo, a well-known search engine. Al
Third, AtomiePark has actually made sales to California consumers through its virtual store, and, even more important, the volume of sales made to California consumers — both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of total sales—is substantial.
See Gorman, supra,
The Court also notes that, although percentages are not dispositive,
8
it is still informative that the 14.71 percent in sales to California is the single largest block of sales by state. The state with the next highest percentage of sales is Texas at only 6.35 percent. Furthermore, the 14.71 percent in sales to California far exceeds the percentage of sales in other cases in
Fourth, as with the volume of sales, the frequency AtomicPark’s sales to California is substantial; in other words, Atomic-Park’s sales to California are continuous and systematic.
See Gorman,
Fifth, AtomicPark’s contacts with Cali
fornia
— ie., its sales to California consumers — are central to its business as an e-tailer.
See Provident Nat’l Bank v. California Fed. Savings & Loan Ass’n,
We find somewhat more convincing the district court’s obsеrvation that the nature of California Federal’s contacts with Pennsylvania respecting deposits and loans was central to the conduct of its business. In Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall,466 U.S. 408 ,104 S.Ct. 1868 ,80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984), the defendant had solicited helicopter services in Texas, negotiated its contract for services there, had purchased about 80 % of its helicopters, spare parts, and accessories for more than $ 4 million from a Texas company over an eight year period, and regularly sent employees to Texas for training and to bring back helicopters. These activities were important but not central to the defendant’s business, the provision of helicopter services for South American oil and construction companies. In contrast, California Federal’s activities relating to Pennsylvania, the borrowing and lending of money, are the bread and butter of its daily business. It would appear that due to the nature of its contacts, California Federal would have a greater expectation of being haled into court in Pennsylvania than the Helicópteros defendant had of being haled into court in Texas.
Finally, the magnitude of AtomicPark’s purchases from California and its stipulation to personal jurisdiction in California for some of its contracts with third parties — while perhaps the least significant factors — do inform the reasonableness of AtomicPark’s expectation that it might be haled into a Californiа court.
To summarize, even though Atomic-Park’s contacts with California taken individually would not sustain general jurisdiction, the Court concludes that, based on the totality of the contacts, they are sufficiently substantial, continuous, and systematic so as to support a finding of general jurisdiction.
D. Reasonableness of Personal Jurisdiction
Although the Court concludes that there are sufficient contacts to support general jurisdiction over AtomicPark, the assertion of general jurisdiction must still be reasonable. The test for reasonableness is the same as that used in the specific jurisdiction context, requiring an analysis of seven factors: (1) the extent of purposeful interjection, (2) the burden on the defendant to defend the suit in the chosen fonim, (3) the extent of conflict with the sovereignty of the defendant’s state, (4) the forum state’s interest in the dispute, (5) the most efficient forum for judicial resolution of the dispute, (6) the importance of the chosen forum to the plaintiffs interest in convenient and effective relief, and (7) the existence of an alternative forum.
See Amoco,
In the instant case, AtomicPark has failed to make out a compelling case. AtomicPark has sufficiently injected itself purposefully into California’s affairs through the volume and frequency of its sales to California consumers. Moreover, given the volume and frequency of sales to California consumers, California has a more than passing interest in the instant litigation.
In addition, the burden on AtomicPark in defending in California is not overwhelming or disproportionate given today’s state of communications and transportation.
See Dole Food Co. v. Watts,
AtomicPark points out that the Eastern District of Wisconsin has fewer cases and a faster average median time for resolving cases than this District.
See
Mot. at 9. But, even if true, the Court notes that the parties have in this District consented to a
Finally, even AtomicPаrk admits that Wisconsin’s sovereign interests are not greatly impacted by this lawsuit, see Mot. at 8 (stating that “[t]his factor has little or no bearing on the exercise of jurisdiction in this case”) — an admission borne out by the fact that the parties stipulated that New York law governs the agreement between Coremetrics and AtomicPark.
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court concludes that there is personal jurisdiction over AtomicPark and therefore Atom-icPark’s motion to dismiss is denied.
The parties should appear before the Court on June 22, 2005, at 2:30 p.m. for a status conference. A joint status conference statement should be filed by June 15, 2005.
This order disposes of Docket No. 8.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
. In
Data Disc, Inc. v. Systems Technology Assocs., Inc.,
If the court determines that it will receive only affidavits or affidavits plus discovery materials, these very limitations dictate that a plaintiff must make only a prima facie showing of jurisdictional facts through the submitted materials in order to avoid a defendant’s motion to dismiss. Any greater burden — such as proof by a preponderance of the evidence — would permit a defendant to obtain a dismissal simply by controverting the facts established by a plaintiff through his own affidavits and supporting materials. Thus a plaintiff could not meet a burden of proof requiring a preponderance of the evidence without going beyond thewritten materials. Accordingly, if a plaintiff's proof is limited to written materials, it is necessary only for these materials to demonstrate facts which support a finding of jurisdiction in order to avoid a motion to dismiss.
Id. at 1285.
. The agreement between Coremetrics and AtomicPark provided that New York law should apply “without giving effect to its conflict of laws principles.” Compl., Ex. A. Neither party has made any argument, however, that New York’s long-arm statute should control instead of California's.
. After the parties' original briefing was completed, the motion was held in abeyance to await the Ninth Circuit’s en banc decision in
Gator.com Corp. v. L.L. Bean, Inc.,
.The Ninth Circuit has framed this test both in disjunctive terms
(i.e.,
substantial
or
continuous and systematic) and .in conjunctive terms
(i.e.,
substantial, continuous,
and
sys
Evidently, the precise formulation of these two requirements is immaterial. What is important is that the continuous contact be “substantial” enough to satisfy due process.
See International Shoe v. Washington,
. AtomicPark has offered a supplemental declaration from its president, Mr. Boldin, to take the sting away from this $3.3 million figure. In his supplemental declaration, Mr. Boldin states that, even though there were sales in this amount, “there are significant costs included in the distribution system, in addition to the cost of the software itself, before AtomicPark realizes any revenue.” Supp. Boldin Deck ¶ 2. Mr. Boldin continues: "AtomiePark’s net margin on its software sales range between one and two percent. Thus, AtomicPark's net revenue from the sales to Californians during the time period described was in the range of $30,000 to $60,000.” Id. (emphasis added).
AtomicPark, however, has not provided any authority to this Court demonstrating that it is a defendant’s profits from sales that must be considered instead of a defendant's sales as a whole. See Bancroft, 223 F.3d at 1086 (stating that "[f]actors to be taken into consideration are whether the defendant makes salеs, solicits or engages in business in the state, serves the state’s markets, designates an agent for service of process, holds a license, or is incorporated there”). Indeed, so far as this Court is aware no court has parsed out profits from sales. As a policy matter, any such inquiry would mandate extensive fact-intensive discovery into costs, overhead, and other factors that would inform profits, an inquiry which would inappropriately front-load extensive discovery and fact determination.
. In his supplemental declaration, Mr. Boldin claims that
AtomicPark purchases all of the software that it sells from wholesale distributors, and not directly from the software manufacturers, with one exception.... As virtually all software is purchased through wholesales AtomicPark has very little, if any, direct contact with any of the manufacturers of the software that it sells, including the manufacturers identified in Mr.Farrer's [supplemental] declaration as 'California' manufacturers. In fact, in order to satisfy software orders placed through its website, AtomicPark utilizes software distribution centers located at sites located as close as possible to AtomicPark’s headquarters in Wisconsin in order to reduce shipping costs and improve delivery time. Thus, it is my best estimate that between 95 percent and 98 percent of the software delivered into AtomicPark’s warehouse in Wisconsin for distribution to purchasers, has a point of origin outside the State of California, rеgardless of where the manufacturer of the software is headquartered.
Supp. Boldin Decl. ¶ 4. This statement, however, is not enough to overcome the evidence that AtomicPark supplied to Coremetrics, stating that its purchases of products from California vendors — whether software products and/or other products — totaled some $1 million from June 2003 through May 2004.
See
Farrer Deck, Ex. I (e-mail from A. Boldin to M. Huitink and W. Farrer, dated 7/6/04; stating that spreadsheet provided to Coreme-trics “is vendor purchases by state during the timeframe of 6-1-03 thru 5-31-04” and that "[t]he 2nd column is the total amount of products purchased in dollars”). As noted above, "[wjhere not directly controverted, plaintiff's version of the facts is taken as true for the purposes of a 12(b)(2) motion to dismiss. Likewise, 'conflicts between the facts contained in the parties’ affidavits must be resolved in [plaintiffs’] favor for purposes of deciding whether a prima facie case for personal jurisdiction exists.’ ”
AT&T,
. As noted above, the actual agreement between Coremetrics and AtomicPark contained a choice-of-law provision applying New York law "without giving effect to its conflict of laws principles.” Comph, Ex. A.
.
See 3M Innovative Properties Co. v. InFocus Corp.,
No. Civ. 04-0009 JNE/TGL,
