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Page Number: 4.0

Cite as:  600 U. S. ____ (2023) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to  notify  the  Reporter  of 
Decisions,  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  Washington,  D.  C.  20543, 
pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 21–1043 
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ABITRON AUSTRIA GMBH, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. 
HETRONIC INTERNATIONAL, INC. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

[June 29, 2023] 

JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. 
This  case  requires  us  to  decide  the  foreign  reach  of  15
U. S. C. §1114(1)(a) and §1125(a)(1), two provisions of the 
Lanham Act that prohibit trademark infringement.  Apply-
ing  the  presumption  against  extraterritoriality,  we  hold 
that these provisions are not extraterritorial and that they
extend only to claims where the claimed infringing use in
commerce is domestic. 

I 
This case concerns a trademark dispute between a United
States company (Hetronic International, Inc.) and six for-
eign parties (five companies and one individual (collectively
Abitron)).1    Hetronic  manufactures  radio  remote  controls 
for  construction  equipment.    It  sells  and  services  these 
products,  which  employ  “a  distinctive  black-and-yellow
color scheme to distinguish them from those of its competi-
tors,”  in  more  than  45  countries.  10  F.  4th  1016,  1024 
(CA10 2021) (case below). 

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1 The foreign companies are Abitron Germany GmbH, Abitron Austria 
GmbH, Hetronic Germany GmbH, Hydronic-Steuersysteme GmbH, and 
ABI Holding GmbH.