Exhaustion of Trademark Rights and Legality of Parallel Imports Under the TRIPs Agreement

Abstract

This chapter considers the issue of exhaustion of trademark rights in the light of the provisions of TRIPs Agreement related to the problem of the legality of parallel imports. In particular, the provisions of the TRIPs Agreement relevant to the problem of the legality of parallel imports are reviewed in order to see whether that Agreement obliges the Contracting Parties to adopt any rule of exhaustion of trademark rights (national, regional, or international exhaustion) or, in the event there is no such obligation, whether a specific rule of exhaustion of trademark rights appears to be more compatible with the legal system established by that Agreement. The analysis comes to the conclusion that it does not follow from an interpretative approach to Articles 6, 16, 3, and 4 of the TRIPs Agreement, as well as from the Preamble and the context of the TRIPs Agreement negotiations, that the doctrine of international exhaustion of trademark rights or the doctrine of regional exhaustion of trademark rights or the doctrine of national exhaustion of trademark rights is more compatible with that Agreement.