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The Supreme Court held 6/14/04 that foreign plaintiffs cannot pursue antitrust claims in U.S. courts where the adverse foreign effect of the anticompetitive conduct is independent of any adverse domestic effect. The Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982 (“FTAIA”), which provides that the Sherman Act does not apply to conduct involving trade or commerce with foreign nations, creates an exception for conduct that significantly harms imports, domestic commerce, or American exporters. The Court reasoned that principles of comity counsel against applying the FTAIA exception where foreign conduct causes independent foreign harm that alone gives rise to an antitrust claim. Applying U.S. antitrust laws under such circumstances would create a serious risk of interference with the sovereign authority of other nations to regulate their commercial affairs. The Court also reasoned that the language and history of the FTAIA suggest that Congress designed the Act to clarify, and perhaps to limit, but not to expand the scope of the Sherman Act as to foreign commerce. The case is important to any company facing antitrust claims based upon multinational transactions affecting U.S. commerce.