Jean-Paul Ciardullo Comments on Oral Arguments in Abitron v. Hetronic SCOTUS Case

Foley & Lardner LLP Partner Jean-Paul Ciardullo is quoted in the IP Watchdog article, “Justices Seek Abitron Parties’ Help in Articulating Bounds of Extraterritorial Application of Lanham Act,” offering his initial insights on oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court case Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., which asks the Court to consider whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit erred in applying the Lanham Act extraterritorially.

Ciardullo explained that judging from the Justices’ questions at oral argument, they “are concerned about the broader implications of the modern global economy and the internet on the international limits of U.S. trademark law, and trying to gauge how far their ruling in the Abitron case should go to try to tackle those complex issues.”

“It will be interesting to see whether the Supreme Court tries to use the Abitron case to create a more robust framework for deciding international trademark disputes going forward, or whether its ruling will ultimately be more confined to the particular facts of the case presented,” Ciardullo added.