William Dodge
George Washington University Law School
William S. Dodge (@ProfBillDodge) is Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University Law School. He served as Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State from 2011 to 2012 and as Co-Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Fourth) of Foreign Relations Law from 2012 to 2018. He is currently a Reporter for the second phase of the Restatement (Fourth), an Adviser for the Restatement (Third) of Conflict of Laws, and a member of the Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Law. Professor Dodge is the co-author of Transnational Business Problems (7th ed. 2024) and Transnational Litigation in a Nutshell (2d ed. 2021). His articles on international law and transnational litigation have appeared in journals such as the Columbia Law Review, the Harvard Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal.
Trademark Infringement and Exports after Abitron
Two years ago, in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. (2023), the Supreme Court applied the presumption against extraterritoriality to the federal trademark statute (the Lanham Act), holding that the Act applies only to domestic conduct. Abitron involved imports. Products bearing an infringing trademark were made abroad, some of which were sold, directly or…
Continue ReadingUsing TLB to Teach International Business Transactions (2025 Update)
As the fall semester gets underway, we are updating our posts on using resources on TLB to teach various classes. This post discusses International Business Transactions (IBT). Although TLB focuses on litigation and IBT focuses on transactions, there is a great deal of overlap. The most obvious examples are contractual clauses that plan for dispute resolution,…
Continue ReadingD.C. Circuit Holds that District Court Must Decide Jurisdictional Facts under FSIA for Itself
In a recent decision, Hulley Enterprises Ltd. v. Russian Federation, the D.C. Circuit held that a district court must decide for itself any “jurisdictional facts” necessary to establish subject matter jurisdiction in suits against foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). The plaintiffs sought to enforce an arbitral award against Russia. The FSIA’s…
Continue Reading