Supreme Court Will Consider Overseas Reach of US Trademark Law

The US Supreme Court will debate the worldwide reach of federal trademark law, agreeing to consider the extent to which a foreign-based company can be forced to pay damages for infringing sales that take place overseas.

The justices said they will review a $90 million jury award won by a Methode Electronics Inc. subsidiary in a lawsuit that accused an Austrian company and three of its units of selling copycat versions of proprietary remote controls used in heavy machinery.

The Austrian company, ABI Holding GmbH, contends that $87 million of that sum covered devices that were sold overseas and weren’t ...