Open is a versatile, highly effective, and free operating system created entirely by volunteers who participate in the Open Se Open is a versatile, highly effective, and free operating system created entirely by volunteers who participate in the Open Sesame unmoderated newsgroup. As many of these unknown participants undoubtedly reside outside of California, and even the United States, dragging them into California to defend this lawsuit is inconsistent with both the Constitutional requirements of fairness and traditional principles of jurisdiction. Anyone with Internet access and the proper newsreader software may participate in Open Sesame. As an unmoderated newsgroup, there is no membership criteria or any other mechanism to restrict participation or the content of messages.
Users are usually anonymous, identified only by email addresses.
Inc. Other than Scape Goat, who resides in California and was served while speaking out against Closed Corp. at a protest rally, none of the other Defendants have any contacts with California. The Open Sesame newsgroup is hosted on an FTP server in Finland, and although some mirror servers carry the newsgroup in California, none of them are affiliated with or controlled by Open Sesame participants. Recent court decisions such as Compuserve v. Patterson, Cybersell Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc., and Barrett v. Catacombs Press , make it clear that simply having a web site or newsgroup that is accessible by forum residents via the Internet is not enough to find personal jurisdiction. Because the Defendants have no contacts with California other than a newsgroup and web page that can be accessed by California residents via the Internet, personal jurisdiction over Defendants is not proper in California. Finally, other than Scape Goat, none of the Defendants was properly served in this case.