An out-of-state defendant that has no office in New York, never conducted business in the state and did not specifically single out New Yorkers in its marketing efforts is nonetheless subject to long-arm jurisdiction in a dispute between rival beauty pageants, a federal judge has held.
Western District Judge David Larimer in Rochester (See Profile) said that the defendants, through their online presence, “deliberately reached into New York” and he issued a preliminary injunction barring the South Carolina-based Miss United States of America Organization from using that title in a pageant that begins next week in Savannah, Ga.
Aquillia Vang is crowned Mrs. United States 2012. The pageant challenged the use of the name Miss United States of America by a rival organization.
Mrs. United States National Pageant/JoePier.com
