Courts continue to struggle with whether to take jurisdiction over internet cases. Toys R Us won a vicotry in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed discovery of information that could lead to jurisdiction in New Jersey over a Spanish company that was using the same name or a similar name. Toys R Us owns the "Imaginarium" name in the US, and the Spanish company owns rights in the "Imaginarium" name in Spain. Over the internet, there could be a conflict. Trademarks are specific to particular countries or jurisdictions, but the internet is not.
It's very expensive to create a worldwide brand, but these kinds of conflicts will arise as the same or similar names get used in different countries.
The Madrid trademark treaty that the US is in the process of joining is supposed to make these sorts of conflicts happen less, but there will still be a substantial expense in protecting intellectual property, and many struggling businesses will choose not to protect their marks in faraway places.
This decision doesn't necessarily mean there will be jurisdiction in a US court over the Spanish company, but it does mean that expensive litigation is going to proceed.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1043457920839
4:50:31 PM 
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