Abitron v. Hetronic (Lanham Act)

Supreme Court Decision Syllabus (SCOTUS Podcast)

In Abitron v. Hetronic, the Supreme Court answered whether certain sections of the Lanham Act were unconstitutionally extraterritorial. To decide this issue, the Court applies a two-part test. It first looks to: 1) whether “Congress has affirmatively and unmistakably instructed for the statute to regulate foreign conduct; and if part-one finds it is not extraterritorial, the analysis turns to 2) whether the statute seeks a (permissible) domestic or (impermissible) foreign application of the statute in question. Justice Alito, writing for the majority, held that the Lanham Act is not extraterritorial, it did not adopt the position that any claim under the Lanham Act could be domestic, wherever it takes place, if there is a likelihood of causing confusion in the United States. Read by Jake A. Leahy.