US Supreme Court Opinion Impacts Trademark Infringement Claims

This morning SCOTUS ruled that the Lanham Act provisions regarding trademark infringement do not have extraterritorial reach – the alleged infringing “use in commerce” must be domestic. As Justice Jackson’s concurrence highlights, the nature of global commerce means that even this attempted bright line standard likely won’t function as one. What is clear, is that the Lanham Act will not provide a remedy for sales in non-US markets of products that infringe on a US company’s domestic trademark.

—Brandi B. Balanda