Oracle decision opens door to parallel trade defences
24 August 2010
Emma Barraclough, London
Oracle has failed to prevent a trader from selling second-hand products imported from the US after a UK court said that the company’s allegations of trade mark infringement may not prevail in a full trial
The US company, which makes Sun computer hardware, had asked the UK courts to grant it summary judgment after it accused UK computer trader M Tech of infringing its trade mark by selling its goods in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Under European trade mark law, it is an infringement to import goods bearing a trade mark from outside the EEA into the EEA even if the goods are genuine.
M Tech had argued that it was unable to distinguish genuine Sun goods first marketed in the EEA by Oracle from...
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