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Internet Commerce
Courts continue to wrestle with the thorny question of where a given wrongful act occurs, if it is perpetrated on the internet, since the internet knows no national boundaries. For example, if the trademark AJAX for tools is owned by one company in one country, and another company in another country, and if there is no agreement or understanding of any sort between the two companies, what happens if either company advertises AJAX tools on the internet? Given the difficulties of establishing jurisdiction over some defendants, or even ascertaining their whereabouts, courts in the Netherlands have as a matter of convenience agreed to accept jurisdiction, regardless of the whereabouts of the parties. It may be that other courts more readily accessible to Canadian plaintiffs will agree to take a similar approach.
Security of information and of transactions is still evolving. It is notorious that hackers and criminals have subverted electronic communications media of various sorts to commit crimes. Caution is in order until such time as encryption and internet transactional methodology have improved beyond present levels. See also Software & Business Method
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