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''Facebook, Inc. v. StudiVZ Ltd.'', was a federal lawsuit filed on July 18, 2008 by Facebook, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against StudiVZ Ltd., a UK company with its principal place of business in Germany. StudiVZ had launched a website which was alleged to be visually and functionally similar to Facebook's site. Facebook filed a similar lawsuit the same day in the German regional court of Stuttgart and an additional related lawsuit on November 19, 2008, in the German regional court of Cologne. In May 2009 the Court in California issued an order indicating its view that Germany was the more appropriate forum for the dispute, but withheld issuing a final order on the question until further review of the issues of personal jurisdiction could be addressed. The parties subsequently settled the California case, but continued the litigation in Germany in which the regional court of Cologne held that StudiVZ did not violate any intellectual property rights held by Facebook. ==Facts and procedural history== Facebook, Inc. operates a social networking website, that was originally founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 while he was a student at Harvard University.〔''Facebook, Inc. v. StudiVZ Ltd.'', No. 08-03468 (N.D. Cal. Jul. 18, 2008) ((Complaint )).〕 Since 2008 Facebook has been available in the German language.〔Sekan Toto, ''(Facebook Recruits Street Troops To Grow in Germany )'', Inside Tech Crunch.com (Sep 25, 2008).〕 In October 2005 StudiVZ launched its website by two students from Berlin, Ehssan Dariani and Dennis Bemmann. StudiVZ is an abbreviation of the German term Studentenverzeichnis or Studienverzeichnis, which means "students' directory".〔 StudiVZ became popular in Germany and subsequently launched several other websites designed to target high school students and students in other European countries.〔 In 2006 Facebook learned of StudiVZ's website and, believing that the StudiVZ website infringed its proprietary trade dress, Facebook sent a demand letter to StudiVZ. The letter alleged a series of potential claims for infringement of Facebook's intellectual property rights under German law. A similar letter was sent in January 2007.〔''Facebook, Inc. v. StudiVZ Ltd.'', No. 08-03468, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40941 (N.D. Cal. May 4, 2009) ((Order deferring ruling on motions to dismiss )).〕 Facebook argued that StudiVZ copied the look, feel, features and services of Facebook.com.〔 In August 2006 and October 2007 Facebook began negotiations to purchase StudiVZ's websites.〔Caroline McCarthy, ''(Report: Facebook tried to buy StudiVZ )'',Inside News.cnet.com (Aug. 8, 2008).〕 After the negotiations failed, Facebook sent demand letters to Holtzbrinck (Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, that acquired StudiVZ in 2007) again alleging infringement of intellectual property rights.〔 On July 18, 2008 StudiVZ filed a declaratory judgment action against Facebook in the German regional court of Stuttgart in order to declare the claims by Facebook without merit.〔''(Facebook challenges German rival )'', Inside News.bbc.co.uk (Jul. 21, 2008).〕 The same day, Facebook filed a complaint against StudiVZ Ltd., Verlagsgruppe Georg Von Holtzbrinck GmbH (German entity), Holtzbrinck Networks GmbH (German entity), Holtzbrinck Ventures GmbH (German entity) with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, demanding StudiVZ desist from running a "knock-off" of Facebook's website.〔 and filed motions to dismiss based on a lack of personal jurisdiction and on the grounds that Germany was a more convenient forum.〔〔 Facebook was represented by some of the same attorneys that handled its now famous case with the Winklevoss twins, including Neel Chatterjee and Julio Avalos of the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (that case became the basis of the academy-award winning film, ''The Social Network''). StudiVZ was represented by Los Angeles-based entertainment law firm Greenberg Glusker. On October 22, 2008 StudiVZ,〔''Facebook, Inc. v. StudiVZ Ltd.'', No. 08-03468 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 22, 2008) ((Motion to dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction or, in the alternative, for Forum Non Conveniens ) filed by Studivz, Ltd.).〕 Holtzbrinck Networks GmbH and Holtzbrinck Ventures GmbH〔''Facebook, Inc. v. StudiVZ Ltd.'', No. 08-03468 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 22, 2008) ((Motion to dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction or, in the alternative, for Forum Non Conveniens ) filed by Holtzbrinck Networks GmbH, Holtzbrinck Ventures GmbH).〕 filed motions to dismiss based on a lack of personal jurisdiction and on the grounds that Germany was a more convenient forum. On November 19, 2008 Facebook filed a second lawsuit for injunctive relief against StudiVZ in the German regional court of Cologne, alleging a series of claims under German law.〔Sekan Toto, ''(Facebook Loses Lawsuit Against German Clone StudiVZ, Gets Criticized For Sloppy Preparation )'', Inside Tech Crunch.com (Jun. 16, 2009).〕〔''(Facebook takes 'knockoff' German site StudiVZ to court )'', Inside The Local.de (Apr. 29, 2009).〕 On May 4, 2009 the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order indicating its view that Germany was the more appropriate forum, but deferred making a final decision on the issue until further review of the issues of personal jurisdiction could be addressed.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Facebook, Inc. v. StudiVZ Ltd.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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