UMG RECORDINGS, INC. v. KURBANOV

No. 19-1124.

963 F.3d 344 (2020)

UMG RECORDINGS, INC.; Capital Records, LLC; Warner Bros. Records Inc.; Atlantic Recording Corporation; Elektra Entertainment Group Inc.; Fueled by Ramen LLC; Nonesuch Records Inc.; Sony Music Entertainment; Sony Music Entertainment US Latin LLC; Arista Records LLC; LaFace Records LLC; Zomba Recording LLC, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Tofig KURBANOV, d/b/a flvto.biz, a/k/a 2conv.com; Does 1-10, Defendants-Appellees. Copyright Alliance; International Anticounterfeiting Coalition; Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.; Association of American Publishers, Amici Supporting Appellants, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Amicus Supporting Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Decided: June 26, 2020.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

ARGUED: Ian Heath Gershengorn , JENNER & BLOCK LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Evan M. Fray-Witzer , CIAMPA FRAY-WITZER, LLP, Boston, Massachusetts, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Ishan K. Bhabha , Alison I. Stein , Jonathan A. Langlinais , JENNER & BLOCK LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Valentin Gurvits , BOSTON LAW GROUP, PC, Newton, Massachusetts; Matthew Shayefar , LAW OFFICE OF MATTHEW SHAYEFAR, PC, West Hollywood, California, for Appellees. David E. Weslow , Megan L. Brown , Ari S. Meltzer , WILEY REIN LLP, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Association of American Publishers. Robert H. Rotstein , Los Angeles, California, J. Matthew Williams , MITCHELL SILBERBERG & KNUPP LLP, Washington, D.C., for Amicus The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. Michael E. Kientzle , Washington, D.C., John C. Ulin , ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP, Los Angeles, California, for Amici The Copyright Alliance and International Anticounterfeiting Coalition. Mitchell L. Stoltz , ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION, San Francisco, California, for Amicus Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Chief Judge Gregory wrote the opinion, in which Judge Floyd and Judge Thacker joined.


This appeal concerns whether a defendant, sued by twelve U.S. record companies for alleged copyright infringement, is subject to specific personal jurisdiction in Virginia. The district court, in granting the defendant's motion to dismiss, concluded that he is not subject to personal jurisdiction in any federal forum. We disagree...

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