Gallup owns numerous United States trademark registrations and applications containing the GALLUP mark including, among other goods and services, public opinion polls and business management consulting services.
Defendants, operating under the name Gallup Pakistan, provide survey and opinion polls on political, social, and business topics to international agencies and educational institutions, including some in the United States. Between January 11 and February 22, 2008, Defendants released six polls regarding Pakistani public opinion of issues surrounding the Pakistani parliamentary elections. The polls were promoted on Defendants’ website, which is in English and accessible to the United States. Defendant Gilani, the chairman of Gallup Pakistan, also made an appearance at a conference in Chicago in 2007 where he presented a paper that bore the Gallup Pakistan name. He also spoke on National Public Radio on February 12, 2008, to discuss his organization’s poll results and was introduced as the head of “the Pakistani chapter of the Gallup polling organization.” Gilani also made an appearance on an internet broadcast around the same time. Gilani was not in the United States during either of those broadcasts.
In response to Gallup’s lawsuit for trademark infringement and dilution, the Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the court did not have subject-matter jurisdiction (Defendants did not challenge the exercise of personal jurisdiction – possibly because Gilani appeared pro se). Specifically, Defendants argued that there was no basis to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction under the Lanham Act. Gallup countered by arguing that the exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction was not necessary because Defendants’ committed infringing acts in the United States sufficient to establish subject-matter jurisdiction.
U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup found that Gallup’s complaint had sufficiently alleged that Defendants’ infringing activities occurred in the United States to meet its burden of establish subject-matter jurisdiction under the Lanham Act. See Gallup, Inc. v. Business Research Bureau et al, Case No. 08-cv-01577, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93462 (N.D. Cal. November 10, 2008).
Under the Lanham Act, courts have jurisdiction which extends to “all commerce which may lawfully be regulated by Congress.” (see 15 U.S.C. 1127). The court noted that the phrase “in commerce” does not necessarily require that the infringing acts take place “‘in commerce’ which is subject to congressional regulation, but that the acts have an adverse effect on that commerce.” Wells Fargo & Co. v. Wells Fargo Exp. Co., 556 F.2d 406, 427 (9th Cir. 1977).
Gallup alleged that Defendants’ trademark infringement occurred “in commerce” in three ways. The first way was Defendants’ publishing of poll results in the United States using the Gallup name. Gallup alleged that Defendants’ trademark infringement not only occurred in commerce, but also has the potential to adversely affect that commerce. The infringement was “in commerce” because Congress regulates the use of trademarks on published materials and the infringement adversely affects that commerce by impairing Gallup’s right to capitalize on its registered mark in its publications. Further, it did not matter that the Defendants do not advertise, market, or promote any goods or services in the United States: “The test is whether the alleged infringement occurred within an area of commerce that Congress regulates or whether the infringement adversely affected that commerce. Even if defendants did not ‘advertise, market, or promote’ their services in the United States, plaintiff sufficiently alleges that defendants’ use of the Gallup mark occurred within commerce and adversely affected that commerce.”
The second way was Defendant Gilani’s appearance in the U.S. promoting his poll results under the Gallup mark. The court found that Gallup had sufficiently alleged that Defendants’ presentations at conferences in the United States using the Gallup mark as well as Gilani’s interview on NPR and participation in the internet broadcast adversely affected commerce regulated by Congress. Specifically, Gallup’s allegations that a) Defendants’ use of the Gallup mark in connection with opinion polls, surveys, and management consulting occurs in the same markets and channels of trade as those offered by Gallup under the Gallup mark and b) Defendants’ use of the Gallup mark has caused or is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive customers of both Gallup and the defendants and to cause the dilution of the distinctive quality of the Gallup mark.
The third way in which Gallup argued that Defendants’ trademark infringement occurred “in commerce” was Defendants’ operating of a website prominently featuring the Gallup mark. The court found that Gallup had sufficiently alleged that Defendants’ trademark infringement occurred “in commerce” by alleging that the web site was accessible in the United States and that use of the Gallup mark had an adverse effect on commerce.
Because the court found that Gallup’s complaint sufficiently alleged actions “in commerce” and action having an adverse effect on commerce in order to give the court subject-matter jurisdiction over Gallup’s claims against the Defendants, the court did not consider Defendants’ argument that there was no basis for extraterritorial jurisdiction. The court noted that the question of whether a court can exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction under the Lanham Act is only reviewed if the plaintiff seeks to reach foreign activities of the defendant, and, in this case, Gallup clarified in its opposition brief that it was not seeking to enjoin Defendants’ activities in Pakistan or to determine rights to the Gallup mark in Pakistan.
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