Brands

Trade marks - Products bearing a trade mark released for free circulation and placed under the duty suspension arrangement without the consent of the proprietor of the trade mark - Right of that proprietor to oppose that placing - Definition of ‘using in the course of trade’

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 16 July 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling)

Article 5 of the First Council Directive 89/104/EEC relating to trade marks must be interpreted as meaning that the proprietor of a trade mark registered in one or more Member States may oppose a third party placing goods bearing that trade mark under the duty suspension arrangement after they have been introduced into the EEA and released for free circulation without the consent of that proprietor.

This is another example for which it is evident that the exhaustion of trademark rights does not occur when the goods come from outside the EEA.