JULIE A. ROBINSON, District Judge.
Plaintiff Joseph Tomelleri brings this action under 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., alleging claims for direct, vicarious, and contributory copyright infringement against Defendants MEDL Mobile, Inc ("MEDL") and Jason Siniscalchi. On May 7, 2014, MEDL filed a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (Doc. 9). Plaintiff then moved for jurisdictional discovery with respect to MEDL, and the Court granted that motion. Following the completion of jurisdictional discovery, MEDL filed a Renewed Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (Doc. 36). Defendant Jason Siniscalchi then filed a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (Doc. 37). On April 29, 2015, the Court granted MEDL's motion, declining to transfer this case to California and dismissing MEDL from the case.
Plaintiff filed a timely motion for reconsideration, in which he requests the Court reconsider its finding regarding jurisdiction or, in the alternative, its determination concerning transferring the case to California. Plaintiff, in his reply brief, confirms he does not oppose Siniscalchi's motion to dismiss, thereby explaining why he did not respond to that motion.
The case now comes before the Court on (1) Defendant Jason Siniscalchi's Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (Doc. 37), and (2) Plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration of the Court's Memorandum and Order Dated April 29, 2015 (Doc. 49). Because Siniscalchi's motion is unopposed and Plaintiff's motion is fully briefed, the Court is prepared to rule on both. For the reasons stated in detail below, the Court finds that it lacks personal jurisdiction over Siniscalchi and that Plaintiff has not shown adequate reason for the Court to reconsider MEDL's motion to dismiss.
The Court incorporates the facts of this case as set forth its April 29, 2015 order.
Under D. Kan. Rule 7.3(b), a party may seek reconsideration of a non-dispositive order within fourteen days of the order, based on (1) an intervening change in controlling law, (2) the availability of new evidence or (3) the need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice.
Because Plaintiff does not oppose Siniscalchi's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, the Court determines it lacks personal jurisdiction over Siniscalchi. Even if Plaintiff had opposed that motion, the Court finds Siniscalchi lacked minimum contacts with Kansas.
Siniscalchi, a resident of Connecticut, admits that he collaborated with California-based MEDL in creating a software application ("app"), called "FishID" in 2009. He supplied MEDL with pictures used in the app, some of which were direct copies of Plaintiff's copyrighted fish illustrations. Defendants allegedly incorporated those illustrations into the app without Plaintiff's permission, thereby violating Plaintiff's copyrights. Siniscalchi also admits that he received notice of Plaintiff's copyright claim. At the very least, Siniscalchi allegedly supplied California-based MEDL with copies of Plaintiff's copyrighted illustrations, which were ultimately incorporated in Defendant's jointly-developed FishID. Siniscalchi's contacts were not directed at Kansas at any point in time. The best that can be said is Siniscalchi purposefully directed his actions (allegedly sending copyrighted illustrations without permission) at California (where MEDL resides) and this copyright action arises from those actions. Defendant Siniscalchi's motion to dismiss is granted.
Plaintiff requests the Court reconsider its April 29 Order because the Court based its decision, at least in part, on an issue that was not properly before the Court. While that is an appropriate ground for reconsideration,
Plaintiff argues the Court erred in declining to exercise specific jurisdiction over MEDL because the Court based its determination on an issue the parties did not present. Plaintiff does not contest the Court's finding that MEDL purposefully directed activities at Kansas; instead, Plaintiff takes issue with the Court's finding on the "nexus" prong, as set forth in Dudnikov v. Chalk & Vermilion Fine Arts, Inc.
Greenlaw is inapplicable to this case because Plaintiff carries the burden of establishing personal jurisdiction.
Plaintiff requests the Court hold the dismissal of MEDL as a party in abeyance until Plaintiff can complete additional discovery to determine if California would have jurisdiction over Siniscalchi. Plaintiff identifies no misapplication of law or fact, nor provides any new facts that could not have been obtained earlier through the exercise of due diligence. Plaintiff also does not contend the Court misapprehended his position. Plaintiff has not shown that, with respect to MEDL, the Court erred in not transferring this case to California. This alone dooms Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration.
Moreover, the Court is unaware of, and Plaintiff has not cited, any case law that would allow reconsideration of a motion based on the jurisdictional contacts of another, non-moving party in the case. Put another way, the Court may reconsider MEDL's motion only if manifest injustice with respect to MEDL would result because it was the only moving party on the motion. And the issue—whether a California court has personal jurisdiction over Siniscalchi—should have been raised in Plaintiff's response to Siniscalchi's motion. But Plaintiff filed nothing, making that motion unopposed. Even if the Court broadened manifest injustice to encompass the motion in light of the current procedural posture, Plaintiff had a hand in creating the "patent impediment"
Finally, the Court essentially granted the abeyance that Plaintiff requests, when it ordered additional briefing as to "whether this case could be transferred to the Central District of California—particularly whether that district has personal jurisdiction over each Defendant and whether this case meets the criteria necessary for transfer."
Plaintiff failed to show the Court erred in declining to exercise personal jurisdiction over MEDL and failed to provide a basis for reconsidering the Court's Order with respect to transferring the case. Even so, the Court essentially granted the remedy Plaintiff requests by ordering additional briefing. Plaintiff's response then failed to prove that a California court has personal jurisdiction over Siniscalchi because he failed to show such jurisdiction would be consistent with traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. For all of these reasons, Plaintiff's motion is denied.