High Court Makes it Harder to Stop Foreign Counterfeit Goods
Law360
Law360
Joyce Liou spoke to Law360 about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that federal trademark law cannot be applied to foreign conduct, which creates new hurdles for American brand owners seeking to curtail infringement and counterfeiting while leaving many open questions for lower courts to address.
According to Joyce, by holding that the Lanham Act’s infringement provisions are not extraterritorial, the justices have narrowed their application to a defendant’s use of a trademark in domestic commerce.
“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,” Joyce said. “The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision changes the landscape for cross-border cases entirely.”
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