Recent CPTech documents

April 14, 2004, Policy Issues Concerning Parallel Trade of Pharmaceutical Drugs in the United States, FDA Prescription Drug Importation Meeting.
March 31, 2004 Legal and Policy Issues Concerning Parallel Trade (aka Re-Importation) Of Pharmaceutical Drugs in the United States
March 30, 2004, CPTech statement to Members of Study Group on Enforcement of Judgments, Secretary of State Advisory Committee on Private International Law, regarding First Sale Doctrine (parallel trade, exhaustion of intellectual property rights).
March 3, 2004, Comments on Maryland State Senate Bill 167.

United States:

• Legal Documets
  • August 21, 2001. United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Jazz Photo Corporation v. Internation Trade Commission
    • Text of Decision.
    • Note from Fred Abbott describing the significnce of the ruling.
  • March 9, 1998, US Supreme Court Opinion in Quality King Distributors, Inc., Petitioner v. L'Anza Research International, Inc.
• March 30, 1999. Robert Alpert and Mary Moy of Ladas & Perry. Recent Case Law and Legislation in the United States.
• June 4, 1998. Clare Ann Fitzgerald for The Legal Intelligencer "Copyright Act Cannot Be Deployed To Halt Proliferation of 'Gray Market'."
• April, 1997.Charles E. Buffon and Ronald G. Dove, Jr., A Not-So-Gray Area: The use of copyright to combat parallel imports into the United States, from Intellectual Property.

• December, 2001. British Parliament's Select Committee on Trade and Industry. Trade Marks, Fakes, and Consumers.
• July 25, 2001. Steve Seidenberg for IP Worldwide. Brand owners beware: A recent ruling may wash the European import market gray.
• July 2001. Interview with Bugh Brett, editor of the European Intellectual Property Review. Brands in Europe? - will 'parallel imports' be permitted to pass over the European Union drawbridge?
• April 26, 2001. Robert Shrimsley and Deborah Hargreaves in the Financial Times. UK and Sweden to lead fight against EU 'grey imports' ban.
• July 8, 1999. Trade and Industry Committee of the British House of Commons. Excerpt from the Eighth Report. Parallel and Grey Trading in the UK.
• April 15, 1999. VNU-Net. Buying fromthe Grey Market.
• July 16, 1998 Judgment of the European Court of Justice in case C-355/96 (Silhouette International vs Hartlauer).
• August 22, 1998, in the Economist, When Grey is Good.
• July 29, 1998, Press Release from Cameron McKenna ECJ Judgement on Designer Goods "Has Wide Ranging Consequences." From the press release:

  The European Court of Justice has recently released its keenly awaited decision in the case of Silhouette International Schmied GmbH & Co -v- Hartlauer Handelsgesellschaft mbH. This decision means that the owner of a registered trade mark in the UK (or other EU country) can prevent the importation of parallel imports from outside the European Economic Area. Previously, the sale of parallel imports under a registered trade mark from any country was assumed to be allowed under English law, unless there was a material difference in the specification of the product in question from product intended for the UK market.

• March 21, 1997. Motorcycle Action Group. Parallel Import restrictions raise fears.

• March 28, 2001. The International Commercial Diplomacy Project. Japan Automobile Imports Association, Distribution of Imported Cars.
• May 24, 2000. The Law and You, Asahi News. Parallel Imports A Legitimate Trade.
• December 22, 1997. Ladas and Parry's Intellectual Property Bulletins and Newsletters. Japan - Infringement of Patents by Parallel Imports.
• November/December 1997, James D. Huges,IP Worldwide's article, Japan's Supreme Court Affirms Legality of Most Parallel Imports.
• 1997, Jinzo Fujino, Parallel Imports of Patented Goods: The Supreme Court Talks about Its Legality. This includes an english translation of the July 1, 1997 Japanese Supreme Court decision involving BBS Kraftfahrzeug Technik AG.
• Summer 1996, Richard Sako for International Law Notes. Unreasonable Restrictions on Parallel Imports Prohibited.

• USTR 2002 National Trade Estimate Report. Chapter on Australia:

  Australia has allowed the parallel importation of sound recordings since 1998, and of branded goods (clothing, footwear, toys, and packaged food) since 2000. During July 2000, the Federal Cabinet approved a proposal to remove the restriction on parallel imports for books and computer software, although legislation to enact this decision was blocked in the Australian Senate.

• The Network Economic Consulting Group's page on Parallel Trade in CDs.
• Australian Competition & Consumer Commission v Universal Music Australia Pty Limited
  • Text of the Ruling of the Federal Court of Australia.
  • December 14, 2001. Astralian Competition and Consumer Commission. Federal Court Finds Warner Music, Universal Music Had Misused Their Market Power, Engaged in Exclusive Dealing to Prevent Parallel Imports of CDs.
• February 1998, Mara Bun and Steve Horrocks. The Australian Consumers' Association Submission to Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee. In Support of Parallel Imports of CDs,
• April 1, 1998, Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee Copyright Amendment Bill (No.2) 1997. The legislation would permit parallel imports of recorded music.

• December 2000. New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development. Parallel Importing and the Creative Industries.
• June, 1998. Bell Gully. (Lawfirm Newsletter.) Parallel Importing.
• May 20, 1998. The Financial Times. New Zealand Lifts Ban on Parallel Imports - US Objects.
• May 1998. Baldwin Shelston Waters law firm. Parallel Importing Restriction Lifted.
• February 1998. New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development. Parallel Importing: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation

• August 17, 1996, Korea (South) - Revised Regulations Affecting Trademarks and Allowing Parallel Imports.

• August 1999 Israel - Disney Prevented from Enjoining Parallel Imports

• August 20, 2001. Perry J. Viscounty, Jeff C. Risher and Collin G. Smyser for the National Law Journal. Cyber gray market is manufacturers' headache.
• July 20, 2000. Eversheds National Bioscience Group. Parallel Imports - the Latest.
• July 8, 1999. Trade and Industry Committee of the British House of Commons. Excerpt from the Eighth Report which compares the legality of parallel imports in different countries.
• June, 1999. World Intellectual Property Organization report by Christopher Heath. Parallel Imports and International Trade.
• 1999. Tibor Gold for the law firm Stephenson Harwood. Parallel imports and the exhaustion of rights: the world focus.
• November 6, 1998. The Publishers Association. Territorial rights: the institutional debate.
• February 1998. New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development. Parallel Importing: Approaches of Other Countries.
• Swee Hoon Ang for Management First. Why Do People Buy Parallel Imports.

• www.graymarketgood.com, a web page for parallel imports.
• Web page on parallel imports in the context of motorcycles.
• www.japatrans.com, One of many Internet sites that advertise parallel imports of automobiles.