Gray marketing and unfair competition

With the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) relaxation of the definitions of cartels, price controls, and market manipulation in July 1998, the Court effectively banned the import of gray goods into the EU. This judgment, restricting parallel importation, raises arguments amongst trademark owners, gray marketers, and consumers. First of all, has the ECJ's judgment connived a situation of unfair competition? Secondly, can the import of gray market goods with genuine trademarks be considered a trademark infringement? Thirdly, is a gray marketer a free rider? To provide the answers to these questions, there is need to investigate the relationships of parallel importation, trademarks and market competition. In this study, the author uses a price dominant model to determine the positions of the trademark owner and the gray marketer. This study finds that parallel importation does not contravene trademark law. In the spirit of free competition, gray marketing activities can develop a situation of fair competition in which social welfare increases. Given the existence of heterogeneous preference of consumers, authorized distributors should offer better levels of service to gain market share. Therefore, the author strongly supports a parallel importation policy.