The legal battle started when Business a.m.’s owner, Bonnier, sued Greg Lloyd Smith and his company, Kestrel Media, claiming that their “internet activities” were infringing the newspaper’s registered trade mark.
The court heard that Lloyd Smith had registered 20 domain names similar to the trade mark. One of them was “businessam.com”, which he had allegedly bought from a company in Colorado Springs, US, for £7,500.
Business a.m. claimed that the domain names were registered either so that Lloyd Smith and his company could pass themselves off as Bonnier and use the company’s goodwill or to profit by selling the domain names to Bonnier or other companies.
Lloyd Smith argued that the Scottish Court of Session did not have jurisdiction over the case because he was resident and domiciled in Greece, while the domicile of Kestrel was Mauritius. They claimed that any legal action should have been brought to the courts of those countries.
Lord Young, however, rejected this argument. He said that the actions were clearly targeting Business a.m., and therefore they were intended to have their main effect in Scotland. He ruled that, under the Brussels Convention, the courts of one country can take action against a wrong threatened within that country, without the need to resort to foreign courts.
Lord Young said:
“The critical question for present purposes is the location of a wrong that is said to have been committed by way of the internet… In my opinion, the person who sets up the web site can be regarded as potentially committing a [legal wrong] in any country where the web site can be seen, in other words in any country of the world.”
“[These] acts are clearly aimed at [Bonnier’s] business. That business is centred in Scotland… I accordingly conclude that the Scottish courts have jurisdiction....”