Research On The Protection Of Trademark Right In Parallel Importation In China

Parallel importation results from the conflict between the globalization of trade and the territorial character of intellectual property. At present policies towards parallel importation differentiate among the member parties of WTO in which permitting it is favorable for some countries but unfavorable for other countries. For the fact that there are some differences in the economic development of all countries it cannot be reached consensus in TRIPS concerning it and every country has the right to decide how to regulate the protection of trademark right in parallel importation. For example, USA takes the policy of national exhaustion, EU the policy of community exhaustion, and Japan the policy of limited international exhaustion. But China has no regulations in this respect, which results in the invalidity and lack of regulating the trademark disputes related with parallel importation. The treatise comes from the real demand, probes into the actual problems existing in China and the drawback of the laws in protecting the trademark right in parallel importation and puts forward the resolution.The thesis can be divided into five chapters besides preface and conclusion. Chapter One: Parallel Importation and Problems of Trademark Right in Parallel Importation; Chapter Two: Rules in Protection of Trademark Right in Parallel Importation; Chapter Three: Current Situations in Protection of Trademark Right in Parallel Importation in China; Chapter Four: International-Comparative Analyses to the Protection of Trademark Right in Parallel Importation; Chapter Five: Legislative Suggestions for the Protection of Trademark Right in Parallel Importation.For the reason that parallel importation has given rise to the interest conflict and the re-allotment between the importers and the holders of trademarks and simultaneously the great influence of market situation in both the import and export countries, it has become the key point about how to adjust and coordinate the interests between the importers and holders of trademarks by law, whether or not to permit the parallel importation, how to reach the interest balance between them on the condition that a country's economic order is not damaged, and how to balance the conflict between developing the foreign trade and protecting the intellectual property. The author notes that the policy of absolutely permitting or prohibiting the parallel importation is not practicable in China, it is advisable to tackle the problem of parallel importation withthe rule of which to permit the parallel importation generally but restrain the unfair competition in it, and the measure being taken to regulate the protection of trademark in parallel importation is competition law complementing with relative laws, which can deal with the problem of parallel importation flexibly and practicably. In detail, add the provision of exhaustion to the trademark law, revise the anti-unfair competition law and enlarge the regulating scope, which are favorable to China.