Jurisdiction shopping

Super interesting court case happening in Australia this week.

In an internet defamation case that lawyers say could set an "extraordinary precedent", an American games company is suing a British blogger in the Australian courts.

Evony, an online games company registered in the US state of Delaware, is suing Coventry-based blogger Bruce Everiss for libel over a series of allegations made on his website. In a bizarre twist, however, Evony has decided not to pursue its case in Britain or America, but 10,000 miles away.

A hearing in Sydney on Monday will determine whether or not the supreme court of New South Wales has jurisdiction – with the potential to set a precedent for the way defamation laws are applied to the online world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/11/evony-sues-british-blogger
 
I hope that this doesn't go through as otherwise this could be the beginning of a massive wave of jurisdiction shopping;

I originally thought the "Gutnick V Dow Jones" case was allowed to go through 'because' he was Australian.

Imagine courts from all around the world 'buying' prosecutions to happen in their physical domain because they are known to swing one way or the other (kind of like Marshall Texas for US patent cases).

On the other hand the USA has been ignoring the WTO for years around online gambling and Antigua so maybe it's not that big a deal?

What do you think?


Cheers,
Dean
(Hat tip to Ross Dawson)