On Parallel Importation In Products Protected By Intellectual Property Rights

The issue of parallel importation in products protected by intellectual property rights is recently of great concerns in international trade. The interplay between the protection of intellectual property rights, competition law and the rules on free trade has given rise to parallel importation a fairly important position in both legal and economic field of a state. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) suggests that this policy choice remains the prerogative for individual countries. Because countries choose different exhaustion doctrines of intellectual property rights, namely national exhaustion doctrine, international exhaustion doctrine and regional exhaustion doctrine, they vary considerably in their legal treatment of parallel imports. This paper reviews the law and policy concerning parallel importation in products protected by intellectual property rights in the United States, European Union, and Japan through a comparative discussion of how these three countries and regions have dealt with this issue. And what is more it focuses on analyzing the strategies for Chinese exporters to avoid parallel importation' accusation from intellectual property proprietors in other countries and regions, and demonstrating that the benefits of adopting international exhaustion and allowing free entry of parallel imports for Hong Kong and China outweighs the harm that may be caused to domestic intellectual property proprietors.