INTA Board approves plain packaging resolution
Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

INTA Board approves plain packaging resolution

plainpack-sample.jpg

The INTA Board of Directors yesterday approved a policy resolution from the Limits on Trademark Use Subcommittee of the Emerging Issues Committee. The resolution sets forth INTA’s position regarding restrictions on trademark use through plain and standardized product packaging.

INTA’s concern is with various governments enacting or considering enacting plain packaging legislation. The resolution says such legislation is detrimental to consumers, trademark owners and competition.

INTA’s position is that:

  1. 1) Plain and highly standardized packaging measures being considered or imposed by governments should be rejected or repealed since they violate various international treaties and national laws on trademark protection including provisions of the Paris Convention, the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement, and TRIPS.

  2. 2) Governments should use less drastic alternatives to address health and safety goals, such as public educational campaigns which do not violate international and national law and expropriate valuable trademark rights.

INTA submitted an amicus brief in the cases pending at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Australia’s plain packaging legislation. So far, most of the debate around plain packaging has focused on tobacco but there are concerns the focus will be widened.

“The issue is not about specific products,” INTA CEO Etienne Sanz de Acedo told the INTA Daily News. “What is a concern is: where are we going? Today it is tobacco. Tomorrow it could be alcoholic beverages or confectionery. Any legislation should be in agreement with international treaties and should recognize the right of property in trademarks. Moreover, removing the branding could make counterfeiting easier.”

The INTA Board also approved another policy resolution yesterday—“A ‘Material Differences’ Standard for International Exhaustion on Trademark Rights.”

The resolution provides that:

  1. 1) National exhaustion of trademark rights in relation to the parallel importation of goods should be applied; and

  2. 2) In those countries that currently follow international exhaustion, and in which political or other conditions make it highly improbable that national exhaustion would be implemented, a “material differences” standard should be adopted in order to exclude parallel imports that are materially different from those products authorized for sale by the trademark owner in the domestic market.

The two resolutions were passed during the Board’s second quarterly meeting, in which it heard reports from various Board committees, including the Audit, Finance, Compensation & Benefits, Nominating and Planning Committees.

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

A 36-member team from Zhong Lun Law Firm, including six partners, will join the newly formed East IP Group
The Delhi High Court sided with Ericsson against Indian smartphone maker Lava, bringing the companies' nine-year dispute to a close
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
Tennessee has passed the ELVIS Act, a law that fights against AI models that mimic the voice and likeness of music artists
Rob Stien, chief communications and public policy officer at InterDigital, says the EU has forgotten innovators while trying to solve an issue that doesn’t exist
As Australia’s Qantm IP leans towards being acquired by a private equity company, sources discuss what it could mean for IP firms
Law firms that are conscious of their role in society are more likely to win work, according to a survey of over 23,000 in-house professionals
Nghiem Xuan Bac Pham, managing partner of Vision & Associates, discusses opportunities created by the US-China rift as well as profitability issues facing IP practices
Douglas Leite and two of his colleagues were intrigued by Bhering Advogados’s mission to grow its patent litigation practice
Each week Managing IP speaks to a different IP practitioner about their life and career
Gift this article