The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision challenging a $96 million verdict in a trademark dispute between an Oklahoma radio control systems company, Hetronic, and their former partners in Europe, collectively Abitron, has a large impact on the extraterritorial application of the Lanham Act by U.S. courts and presages’ continued efforts to trim the extraterritorial application of federal law.

Peter B. "Bo" Rutledge, dean of the University of Georgia School of Law.Peter B. "Bo" Rutledge, dean of the University of Georgia School of Law. Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge, dean of the University of Georgia School of Law.

The case was captioned Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. The two provisions of the Lanham Act at issue, §1114(1)(a) and §1125(a)(1), prohibited the use in commerce of protected trademarks that are likely to cause confusion. Hetronic sought damages against Abitron for its infringing use in commerce worldwide, and Abitron asserted that this extraterritorial application was impermissible.