Trademark case: Plixer International, Inc. v. Scrutinizer GmbH, USA

A German company’s interactive website, through which it assisted customers with improving their software products, was sufficient to subject the company to federal personal jurisdiction for purposes of a trademark infringement suit brought by a Maine company that owned a federally registered mark, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston has ruled. The German company conceded that the cause of action was related to federal law; it purposefully availed itself of conducting business in the U.S.; and the exercise of personal jurisdiction over it under the circumstances of this case was reasonable, satisfying the due process inquiry. Thus, a decision of the federal district court in Portland, Maine, was affirmed (Plixer International, Inc. v. Scrutinizer GmbH, September 13, 2018, Lynch, S.).

Case date: 13 September 2018

Case number: No. 18-1195

Court: United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.