Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Judicial Notice of Internet Evidence — Courts Routinely Take Notice of Contents of Wayback Machine

Under a Foot Plant Co. v. Exterior Design, Inc., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38190 (D. Md. Mar. 25, 2015):

Plaintiff requests judicial notice of an archived printout from defendant's website, which was generated by The Internet Archive on November 30, 2010. This printout describes the shipping services provided by defendant. According to plaintiff, defendant "does not object to the Court taking judicial notice of the existence of the document, [*4]  [but] does not consent to the Court taking judicial notice of the facts contained within the document." Pl . 's Mot. Jud. Notice 2. Defendant did not file an opposition to plaintiff's request for judicial notice.

A court may take judicial notice of "a fact that is not subject to reasonable dispute" because it "is generally known within the trial court's territorial jurisdiction" or "can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned." Fed. R. Evid. 201(b). District courts have routinely taken judicial notice of content from The Internet Archive pursuant to this rule. See, e.g., Pond Guy, Inc. v. Aguascape Designs, Inc., 2014 WL 2863871, *4 (E.D.Mich. June 24, 2014); Martins v. 3PD, Inc., 2013 WL 1320454, *16 (D.Mass. Mar. 28, 2013); In re Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) Products Liab. Litig., 2013 WL 6869410, *4 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 30, 2013). Accordingly, plaintiff's request for judicial notice is granted.

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