Cert Petition Highlights Circuit Split on Sovereign Immunity for Military Purchases
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) immunizes foreign states from suit in federal and state court. But it makes an exception for actions based on a foreign state’s commercial activities. The Supreme Court’s leading decision interpreting this exception is Republic of Argentina v. Weltover (1992), where the Court unanimously held “that when a foreign government…
Continue ReadingSupreme Court Focuses on Consumer Confusion in Extraterritorial Trademark Case
Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. The question before the Court is when the federal trademark statute, known as the Lanham Act, applies to the use of trademarks outside the United States. The respondent, a U.S. company that makes radio remote controls for heavy construction equipment,…
Continue ReadingSupreme Court Ducks Fifth Amendment Due Process Question
The Supreme Court denied certiorari yesterday in Douglass v. Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha. This highly-watched case raises an important question that the Court will have to address sooner or later: the Fifth Amendment due process limitations on personal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court’s personal jurisdiction cases have repeatedly interpreted the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment…
Continue ReadingPaper Tiger, Hidden Dragon?: Some Thoughts on Smagin v. Yegiazaryan
This Term, the Supreme Court will hear a dispute between two wealthy Russians relating to an international arbitration award in London arising out of a failed real estate venture in Moscow. The case pits two competing tendencies of the Justices against one another: (a) their penchant for preventing such seemingly foreign litigation from proceeding in U.S….
Continue ReadingBill Dodge to Join Faculty at George Washington University Law School
TLB is pleased to announce that founding editor Bill Dodge will join the faculty of the George Washington University Law School in August 2024. He expects to teach International Litigation and Arbitration, International Business Transactions, and Contracts, among other subjects. Bill will join GW Law after 29 years with the University of California, including 20…
Continue ReadingDistrict Court Refuses to Let 9/11 Plaintiffs Have Afghan Central Bank Assets
The District Court for the Southern District of New York (Judge George Daniels) has denied the turnover motions filed by judgment creditors against assets of Da Afghanistan Bank (“DAB”) that are held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“FRBNY”). Judge Daniels’ order and decision, issued on February 21, 2023, adopted the report and…
Continue ReadingDon’t Forget About State Courts
Transnational litigation in the United States is often thought of as a matter for the federal courts. While it is true that many transnational cases end up in federal courts, state courts routinely hear transnational cases too. Scholars have started to catch on, with recent papers studying state courts’ approaches to the presumption against extraterritoriality,…
Continue ReadingPreview of Supreme Court Argument in Extraterritorial Trademark Case
On March 21, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. to decide when the federal trademark statute, known as the Lanham Act, applies to the use of trademarks outside the United States. The stakes are high—not just for the parties arguing over a $90 million damages…
Continue ReadingFloating Forum Selection Clauses
Most forum selection clauses refer specifically to the courts of a particular jurisdiction. Floating forum selection clauses are different. A floating clause does not reference any court by name. Instead, it ties the choice of forum to a mutable fact that can change after the contract is made. The possibility that the identity of the…
Continue ReadingHiring Announcement
The American Society of International Law is hiring for two important positions: Director of Finance and Administration and Director of Programs. These are key positions with a wonderful organization. More information here.
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