It is mandatory for consumer safety in some sectors.
Manufacturers can control quality and recall product, if necessary, at an economic cost.
It makes little commercial sense to say that there is implied consent and then allow batch code obliteration which denies brand owners the ability to avoid implied consent for the future. This article assesses the impact of this situation upon literary scholarship and asks whether the relevant statutory provisions can be justified. An E.U. Expert Group recently recommended a form of compulsory expert arbitration for official consideration as an alternative. There is persuasive empirical evidence for this approach. The recent decisions of the Court of Justice in Silhouette and Sebago have purportedly clarified the right of the trade mark owner to object to parallel imports of goods originating from non-EEA Member States.