Gray Market Goods

The problem of grey market goods has been ..... the judicial system for many years, with judges trying to define trademark and copyright holders' rights.

In the case of trademarks, the courts have ..... around the guideline that goods intended for outside the United States with the US trademark holder's approval, when imported, will be an infringement only if such 'foreign' products differ significantly from the ones sold in the US.

What ..... a'significant' difference, needless to say, varies among products.

For instance, Coke bottles sold in Panama were found significantly different: the Spanish labels did not list the contents, while the packaging and shipping caused the Panamanian bottles to be ..... to product spoilage and leaking.

The Federal Court of Appeals has added a ..... to this guideline, considering that goods don't substantially vary if the trademark holder has allowed foreign-directed goods into the US in a way that all or materially all of the United States sales are not the American version of the product.

In another case, Elk Corporation brought their case under 21 USC 1209 ..... the United States International Trade Commission.

The Administrative Law Judge of the USITC ..... in favour of Elk, stating that numerous substantial differences clearly existed between the cultivators sold by Elk in the US and their European models, and included differences in the services offered along with the cultivators.

While the respondents gave evidence showing that Elk had authorized sales of these machines in the United States, the judge placed the ..... of proof upon them to establish that Elk had approved those sales and that the quantity of sales was material.

In spite of the fact that the respondents had raised the point as a defense, the judge stated that Elk was required to establish a prima ..... case that materially all of its US sales conformed to the American version of the cultivator.

That is to say, first Elk needed to establish a United States standard against which the ..... substantial variations of the European model were to be mensurated.