Cengage Advantage Books: Business Law Today, The Essentials 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller

Exercise 6

Sovereign Immunity. Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., designs, makes, and sells helicopters with distinctive and famous trade dress that identifies them as Bell aircraft. Bell also owns the helicopters' design patents. Bell's Model 206 Series includes the Jet Ranger. Thirty-six years after Bell developed the Jet Ranger, the Islamic Republic of Iran began to make and sell counterfeit Model 206 Series helicopters and parts. Iran's counterfeit versions-the Shahed 278 and the Shahed 285-used Bell's trade dress (see Chapter 5). The Shahed aircraft was promoted at an international air show in Iran to aircraft customers. Bell filed a suit in a U.S. district court against Iran, alleging violations of trademark and patent laws. Is Iran-a foreign nation-exempt in these circumstances from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts? Explain. [Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 764 F.Supp.2d 122 (D.D.C. 2011)] (See pages 716-717.)