IP Snapshot: March 2008

Trade Marks

Honda Motor Co v Neesam & others (High Court)

In a case concerning parallel importation of branded Honda motorbikes from Australia to the UK, the Court found largely for the importer on the facts: Honda as the brand owner had impliedly consented to the sale of these items within the EEA, until its consent was withdrawn at a later date. The judgment is very long and considers in depth highly complex factual evidence: the key point is how the issue of consent was treated.

Eli Lilly -v- 8pm Chemists Limited (Court of Appeal)

The Court of Appeal found that importation of trade marked goods into the UK from outside Europe (here Turkey) under customs procedures, for the purpose only of onward transit to other destinations outside Europe, could not infringe the trade marks.