ARTICLE
11 July 2023

SCOTUS Curtails Foreign Reach Of US Trademark Law In Surprise Ruling"

MF
Morrison & Foerster LLP

Contributor

Known for providing cutting-edge legal advice on matters that are redefining industries, Morrison & Foerster has 17 offices located in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Our clients include Fortune 100 companies, leading tech and life sciences companies, and some of the largest financial institutions. We also represent investment funds and startups.
Joyce Liou spoke to the Global Legal Post about the Supreme Court's decision in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, which held that two provisions in the Lanham Act...
United States Intellectual Property

Joyce Liou spoke to the Global Legal Post about the Supreme Court's decision in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, which held that two provisions in the Lanham Act that prohibit trademark infringement "are not extraterritorial and that they extend only to claims where the claimed infringing use in commerce is domestic."

According to Joyce, until now, many courts have viewed the Lanham Act as an extraterritorial statute, allowing litigants to bring U.S. claims and obtain injunctions against defendants over infringing acts abroad.

She added that SCOTUS's unanimous decision changes the landscape for cross-border cases entirely. By ruling that the Lanham Act's infringement provisions are not extraterritorial, the Supreme Court has curtailed their application to only domestic uses, meaning the defendant's use in commerce of the plaintiff's mark must be domestic.

Read the full article.

Originally published by Global Legal Post

Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© Morrison & Foerster LLP. All rights reserved

Mondaq uses cookies on this website. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies as set out in our Privacy Policy.

Learn More