On July 16, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed the case Wye Oak Technology, Inc. v. Republic of Iraq and Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Iraq, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because...more
After it became clear that they would lose World War II, Nazi Germany and Hungary raced to complete their eradication of the Jews before the Axis surrendered. The Axis powers wiped out more than two-thirds of Hungary’s...more
Court Rejects Halkbank’s Claim That the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Shields the Bank From Prosecution - A motion to dismiss an indictment accusing Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank of money laundering, bank...more
Although a seemingly infrequent issue, the ability to sue domestic and foreign sovereign entities in intellectual property disputes has been the subject of recent seminal U.S. Supreme Court and Appellate Court decisions. In...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss a copyright infringement suit on the ground of sovereign immunity, holding that advertising activity in the United...more
Foreign states and their agencies engage in a variety of construction projects in the United States, all of which are subject to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSA”)....more
Imagine your client, a real property owner, asks you to draft an enforceable agreement with the owner of the neighboring property. It seems relatively easy, right? Well, no, not if the neighboring property is owned by a...more
In order to minimize the risk of litigation arising from investments in the United States, sovereign wealth funds (“SWFs”) should take care to avoid inadvertent or unnecessary waiver of sovereign immunity–before they...more
FSIA "Commercial Activity" Exception Applies to Transportation of Submarine Loaned to Australian National Museum at Nominal Cost - Anderson Trucking Service, Inc. v. Eagle Underwriting Group, Inc., US District Court for...more
In re: Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation, US District Court for the Northern District of California, February 1, 2018 The present opinion in this long-running and multi-defendant antitrust case concerns a motion...more
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Co., US Supreme Court, May 1, 2007 - Plaintiff Helmerich & Payne (H&P), a supplier of drilling equipment, sued Venezuela to obtain compensation...more
Introduction - On December 16, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (FCEJICA). The bill, which extends sovereign immunity to foreign states that...more
On March 7, 2016, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals joined its sibling circuits by affirming a ruling from the Southern District of Ohio, which found that the design and manufacture of a product is a commercial activity...more
The US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) codifies the doctrine of sovereign immunity and generally prohibits lawsuits in US courts against non-US sovereigns. But the FSIA has an exception where, among other things, a...more
On December 1, 2015, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs a case presenting important questions concerning the types of commercial activities that may strip foreign states and...more
On December 1, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States decided OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs, No. 13-1067, holding that the commercial-activity exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act did not apply to a...more
The Supreme Court of the United States announced the following decision today: OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs, No. 13 1067: Respondent Carol Sachs, a California resident, purchased a Eurail Pass over the Internet...more