JUNE 2007
ECJ fails to resolve repackaging question
When the Boehringer case was referred to the ECJ for a second time, the Court had a chance to finally resolve the issue of reboxing and relabelling. But, argue Hiroshi Sheraton and Simone Blakeney, many questions remain unclear
On April 27, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down another decision in Boehringer Ingelheim and others v Swingward Ltd and Dowelhurst Ltd, Case C-348/04 (Boehringer II). This second reference to the ECJ from the UK courts raised further questions relating to the repackaging of pharmaceutical products for parallel trade in the EU and the exhaustion of trade mark rights. However, although the ECJ nominally addressed each of the issues in this latest judgement, it is arguable that seven years after Mr Justice Laddie's original judgment in February 2000, the case continues to raise more questions than it answers.
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