<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The European Union has established the free movement of goods, which covers the parallel import of goods in the EU. However, the free movement of goods should not infringe on the rights of trade mark owners. In some cases, parallel importer needs not only to repackage but also to rebrand pharmaceutical products. ECJ has stated that rebranding is permissible if objective necessity to rebrand exists. But it is the national court that has to determine what objective necessity is. This paper analyses the decisions of EU Member States. In some cases, objective necessity has been determined on similar grounds. However, in other cases, a necessity to enter some part of the market has been evaluated differently in different Member States. The different evaluation of the necessity criterion could be treated as the infringement of uniform application of the free movement of goods in the EU.</p></abstract>

The European Union has established the free movement of goods, which covers the parallel import of goods in the EU. However, the free movement of goods should not infringe on the rights of trade mark owners. In some cases, parallel importer needs not only to repackage but also to rebrand pharmaceutical products. ECJ has stated that rebranding is permissible if objective necessity to rebrand exists. But it is the national court that has to determine what objective necessity is. This paper analyses the decisions of EU Member States. In some cases, objective necessity has been determined on similar grounds. However, in other cases, a necessity to enter some part of the market has been evaluated differently in different Member States. The different evaluation of the necessity criterion could be treated as the infringement of uniform application of the free movement of goods in the EU.

Can a Parallel Importer Rebrand Pharmaceutical Products in the EU?

Faculty of Bioeconomy, Business and Rural Development Research Institute, Agriculture Academy

TalTech Journal of European Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Can a Parallel Importer Rebrand Pharmaceutical Products in the EU?"}

The European Union has established the free movement of goods, which covers the parallel import of goods in the EU. However, the free movement of goods should...

Can a Parallel Importer Rebrand Pharmaceutical Products in the EU?

Published Online: Jul 30, 2019

Page range: 57 - 76

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2019-0004

Keywords
parallel import, rebranding, repacking, trade mark

© 2019 Jurgita Grigienė et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Can a Parallel Importer Rebrand Pharmaceutical Products in the EU?

Published Online: Jul 30, 2019

Page range: 57 - 76

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2019-0004

Keywordsparallel import, rebranding, repacking, trade mark

© 2019 Jurgita Grigienė et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
parallel import, rebranding, repacking, trade mark