Opinion ID: 201739
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Claim for Injunction Barring Delica's United States Sales

Text: 46 McBee contends that his claim for an injunction against Delica's sales to consumers inside the United States does not constitute an extraterritorial application of the Lanham Act, and therefore the district court should have taken jurisdiction over this claim without pausing to consider whether there was a substantial effect on United States commerce. The factual predicate for this argument is the $2,500 of Cecil McBee brand goods that Delica sold to McBee's investigators in Maine; there is no evidence of any other sales made by Delica to United States consumers. McBee is correct that the court had subject matter jurisdiction over this claim. 47 There can be no doubt of Congress's power to enjoin sales of infringing goods into the United States, and as a matter of Congressional intent there can be no doubt that Congress intended to reach such sales via the Lanham Act. Courts have repeatedly distinguished between domestic acts of a foreign infringer and foreign acts of that foreign infringer; the extraterritoriality analysis to determine jurisdiction attaches only to the latter. See, e.g., Totalplan Corp. of Am. v. Colborne, 14 F.3d 824, 829-30 (2d Cir.1994); Sterling Drug, 14 F.3d at 744-47 & n. 8; Wells Fargo, 556 F.2d at 426-30; Vanity Fair, 234 F.2d at 638-39, 645; see also 4 J.T. McCarthy, McCarthy on Trade-marks and Unfair Competition § 29:56, at 29-151 (4th ed.2005). Since sales in the United States are domestic acts, McBee need not satisfy the substantial effect on United States commerce test for this claim; jurisdiction exists because, under the ordinary domestic test, the $2,500 worth of goods sold by Delica to McBee's investigators in the United States were in United States commerce, at least insofar as some of those goods were shipped directly by Delica to the buyers in the United States. See Carpet Group Int'l v. Oriental Rug Importers Ass'n, Inc., 227 F.3d 62, 71-75 (3d Cir.2000). 48 Our holding that the extraterritoriality tests are inapplicable where plaintiff seeks a remedy for imported goods sold to American consumers is supported in the antitrust context by the language of the FTAIA. The FTAIA provides that the Sherman Act: 49 shall not apply to conduct involving trade or commerce (other than import trade or import commerce) with foreign nations unless ... such conduct has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect (A) on trade or commerce which is not trade or commerce with foreign nations, or on import trade or import commerce with foreign nations; or (B) on export trade or export commerce with foreign nations, of a person engaged in such trade or commerce in the United States.... 50 15 U.S.C. § 6(a)(1). The statute exempts import trade or import commerce from its extraterritoriality effects test; such import trade or import commerce would seem to be reachable so long as the domestic commerce tests are met. See Carpet Group Int'l, 227 F.3d at 71-75; W. Fugate & L. Simonwitz, Foreign Commerce and the Antitrust Laws § 2.14, at 30 (5th ed. Supp.2004). 51 The district court thus had subject matter jurisdiction over McBee's claim for an injunction against Delica's sales of Cecil McBee goods in the United States. Nonetheless, dismissal of the claim was appropriate for reasons stated later. 12 52