An assessment of the effects test in determining personal jurisdiction in cyberspace

Questions of personal jurisdiction in disputes arising from activity on the Internet have increasingly drawn upon the so-called effects test, derived from a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision, At the same time, courts continue to invoke the "sliding scale" test, based upon the degree of interactivity of a Web site, which was originally developed by a federal district court in 1996. This Article describes the evolution of the effects test, compares its strengths, weaknesses and judicial variations with the sliding scale, and concludes that application of the effects test can involve a degree of subjectivity regardless of how it is defined.