Reference no: EM131241682

Richtone Design Group LLC (Richtone) is a New York limited liability company (LLC) that owns the copyright to the Pilates Teacher Training Manual and licenses fitness instructors to teach pilates exercise programs. Live Siri Art, Inc. is a California corporation owned by Siri Galliano. Richtone learned that Live Siri Art and Galliano were selling the pilates manual over a website for profit without permission. They sold several copies of the manual to New York residents, making only about $ 1,000 in sales in New York from 2000 to 2012. Defendants have no office, property, or bank accounts in New York. Richtone brought a copyright infringement lawsuit against Live Siri Art and Galliano in U. S. district court in New York, alleging that the defendants were subject to personal jurisdiction in New York based on New York’s long arm statute. The defendants Live Siri Art and Galliano defended, alleging that they were not subject to suit in New York because they were residents of California, that they did not have the requisite minimum contacts with New York to be subject to suit in that state, and that to make them defend the lawsuit in New York violated their due process rights. The defendants made a motion to dismiss the New York lawsuit based on lack of personal jurisdiction. Are the defendants subject to lawsuit in New York? Richtone Design Group, LLC v. Live Art, Inc., 2013 U. S. Dist. Lexis 157781 (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2013)