For fifty years, the Soviet Union made and sold Stolichnaya vodka and licensed its trademark for use in the United States. After the Soviet Union collapsed, the state enterprise that had managed the mark was privatized and came under the control of Spirits International B.V. Later, a Russian court held that the enterprise had not been validly privatized and that ownership of the Stolichnaya mark remained with the Soviet Union’s successor, the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation assigned the mark to Federal Treasury Enterprise Sojuzplodoimport, OAO (FTE). FTE filed a suit in a U.S.

federal district court against Spirits, alleging that its use of the mark violated U.S. trademark law. Spirits challenged the validity of the assignment of the mark to FTE. Is this a question to be decided by a U.S. court? Why or why not?