E-Data Corporation (“E-Data”) is a Utah corporation with a business office in Connecticut. West Stock, a Washington corporation with its principal place of business in Seattle, Washington, licenses stock photography to commercial users. It has no offices in Connecticut, it owns no property and maintains no financial accounts in this forum, and does not have any employees or other agents in Connecticut. Since December 1995,West Stock has operated “Muse,” an Internet-based stock photography service through which purchasers may electronically select a photograph, license its use, pay for that use, and download the image—all via the Internet. E-Data claims that West Stock has infringed on its patent. The patented invention is a system for reproducing information embodied in material objects, such as recordings, video games, motion pictures, books, sheet music, greeting cards and the like, at point-of-sale locations with the permission of the owner of the information.

Specifically, plaintiff claims that defendant West Stock infringes the patent when it offers consumers the opportunity to purchase photography images via the Internet by paying a licensing fee to unlock and instantly download photography images on the consumer’s computer. West Stock moves to dismiss contending that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over it in Connecticut. Does the Connecticut court have personal jurisdiction over West Stock? E-Data Corp. v. Micropatent Corp., 989 F. Supp. 173 (D. Conn 1997).