Jurisdiction And Trademark Infringement

Division 2 of the National Court of Appeals on Federal Civil and Commercial Matters reversed the lower court's decision that had admitted defendants' plea of lack of jurisdiction in re "Christian Dior Couture S.A. v. Elbien S.A. and others", and decided that the Argentine federal courts had jurisdiction to hear the case.

Christian Dior Couture and Elbien S.A. had entered into several license agreements regarding trademarks owned by the former, and the validity of the said agreements was under discussion. Elbien S.A., in turn, had sublicensed the use of the trademarks to two other companies, Maximiliano S.A. and Compañía de Charly S.A.

Christian Dior Couture filed a lawsuit seeking that Elbien S.A., Maximiliano S.A. and Compañía de Charly S.A. discontinue the use of trademarks "CHRISTIAN DIOR", "DIOR" and "CD" registered in international class 25. Defendants filed a plea of lack of jurisdiction, arguing that the case had to be decided by the French courts as the parties had agreed on this jurisdiction in the trademark license...