The U.S. law against trademark infringement applies only to infringements that occur within the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

A 5-4 majority of the high court held that Congress provided no "express statement" in the Lanham Act that the law applies "extraterritorially" to capture behavior that occurs beyond U.S. borders. A minority of the justices would have held that the trademark protection law also applies when the alleged infringement would likely confuse consumers in the United States.