A trademark right gives the proprietor the sole right to use
and exploit the trademark and to prohibit others form using that
trademark. However, there is an exception from this general
prohibition, which is the principle of exhaustion giving
possibility for parallel importers to commercialize trademarked
goods. In this article we summarize when trademark rights are
exhausted under the EU law.
1) Harmonized EU law
When it comes to the exhaustion of trademarks rights, it is
fully harmonized within the European Union in order to ensure the
free movement of goods. The exhaustion applies to both the
trademarks of an EU Member State ("national
trademark") and to the European Union trademarks
("EU trademark").
