The Application Of The Principle Of Exhaustion Of Trademark Rights In Repackaging Merchandise

The current commodity re packaging leads to more and more disputes The current commodity repackaging in practice leads to more and more disputes between trademark owners and dealers,the court believed that the goods repackaging constitutes trademark infringement.However,in this paper,the court’s opinion is worth further discussion.This paper studies the problems of repackaging of commodities,and suggests that the principle of exhaustion of trademark rights should be applied according to different circumstances.It is proposed that the repackaging of commodities should be based on the principle of the exhaustion of trademark rights under different circumstances.There are two main types of commodity repacking :(1)changing the collection of goods only without changing its packaging;(2)changing the collection of goods and packaging.The principle of the exhaustion of trademark right refers to the right of trademark prohibition,that is,when the distributor uses the trademark in the process of commodity circulation,the trademark holder has no right to prohibit it.From the definition of trademark right exhaustion principle,trademark holders will lose the control of the goods(mainly refers to the prohibition of trademark rights)as soon as the goods are put on the market,There are three conditions for the principle of exhaustion of trademark right:(1)the goods are approved by the market;(2)no trademark change;(3)the goods have not been changed or damaged.The situations when the trademark right exhaustion principle is not applicable are as follows:(1)the goods have been changed or damaged after putting on the market;(2)concealing the real situation of the goods.However,the principle of the application of the trademark exhaustion inthe repackaging of commodities has its particularity and difficulty.The problem of repackaging the goods is more complicated.The United States Supreme Court held that in the circulation of goods,the owner of the goods has the right to repack the goods and has the right to use the commodity mark on the goods.The European Court of justice has argued that if the defendant,without the permission of the trademark owner,repacks the goods and then re attach the trademark of the goods on the packaging,it is considered to cheat the unsuspecting consumers.But the court also suggested that it is acceptable if the trademark owner divides the market at the same time and the dealer’ s behavior does not affect the product statusAt last,the paper gives some suggestions from two aspects: the condition of the application of the right of trademark exhaustion and the situation of discomfort.The main conditions are as follows:(1)do not make substantial changes to the commodity;(2)to achieve full disclosure of commodity information,while the main unapplicable situations are:(1)the goods in the market have been changed or damaged;(2)conceal the true situation of goods.