On 25 August 2018, the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth)
(Trade Marks Act) was amended by including a
parallel importation defence for importers of goods. With the new
changes, Australian trade mark owners will find it more difficult
to prevent parallel importation of genuine trade-marked goods by
others into Australia, as the new amendments are designed to help
increase genuine parallel importation and competition.
What is ‘Parallel Importation’ and why is it
problematic?
Parallel importation occurs when genuine branded goods are
lawfully purchased in Country A and imported into Country B for
resale where the importer is not an authorised distributor in
Australia, and without the consent of the Australian trade-mark
owner. For example, parallel importation would occur when
Party A purchases wine from a winery in France and is subsequently
imported to Australia for sale where there is an already existing
network of distributors for the sale of that product, without
