People have a predictable and powerful tendency to put everyone into buckets via easily quantifiable properties and treat them very differently based on whether

People have a predictable and powerful tendency to put everyone into buckets via easily quantifiable properties and treat them very differently based on whether they see themselves as sharing those buckets. Ergo, if a jury gets involved, it's worse for Sony if the action is framed as "Japanese corporation vs New Jersey citizen", given a jury composed of New Jersey residents. If they can get SCEA/California jurisdiction, it's "California corporation vs New Jersey resident", given a jury composed of California residents.