IPKAT BOOK NOTICE: THOMAS HAYS’ PARALLEL IMPORTATION UNDER EUROPEAN UNION LAW

The IPKat has received a review copy of Thomas Hays’ Parallel Importation Under European Law. The European Court of Justice has recently developed a large body of jurisprudence onn this subject, incidentally reaching out towards topics such as the burden of proof in infringement litigation (Van Doren), repackaging (Boehringer Ingelheim), defacement of barcodes (Loendersloot), resale in a downmarket mode (Dior) - the list goes on and on.

Dr Hays' book is the first major account of parallel importation and the grey goods phenomenon since this recent blossoming of the ECJ's case law. In his analysis he brings to bear his enthusiasm for European intellectual property law, eschewing a parochial approach for a more appropriately European panoramic vista. Nor does he confine his discussion to consideration only of the mainstream IP rights: the impact of exhaustion principles upon even such rarely litigated fields as the protection of seeds amd semiconductor topographies is brought to the reader's attention.

Published by Sweet & Maxwell on 31 December 2003, this handsome hardback volume undertakes a wide-ranging consideration of what the author describes as the “agent provocateur of European intellectual property law”, so-called because the concept “tests the reach of exclusive rights and their relationships to overarching needs of Common Market integration”. The comprehensive examination consists of:

1. Introduction (examining commercial and moral aspects of parallel trade, as well its legal nature).
2. Free movement and market integration.
3. Pharmaceuticals, relabelling, repackaging and rebranding
4. Anticompetitive agreements
5. Abuses of dominant positions
6. Royalty collecting societies and trade associations, automobile and film distribution
7. Trade mark harmonisation and the exhaustion of rights
8. Davidoff, consent and the burden of proof
9. Copyrights, designs, patents, seeds and semiconductors
10. Conclusion

At £175, the IPKat thinks that this work is a worthy addition to the bookshelves of those interested in competition law, as well as mainstream IP enthusiasts.

More parallels here, here and here