NY court: Keep Internet copyright disputes at home

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's top court says publishers should bring Internet copyright infringement lawsuits in courts where their business is located, even if there's no evidence that's where their copyright was violated.

The Court of Appeals says this differs from traditional cases in which the injury is linked to the place where sales or customers are lost. The court says the Internet is "intangible and ubiquitous" by nature.

The court answered the question for a federal appeals court in a ruling Thursday in Penguin Group's Manhattan lawsuit against Arizona-based American Buddha over four books posted online.

Agreeing with Penguin and the American Association of Publishers, the court says that the site of the injury for determining jurisdiction is the copyright holder's place of business, not the place where the uploader is.