Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

Case C‑204/20

Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH

v

kohlpharma GmbH

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Hamburg)

Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 17 November 2022

(Reference for a preliminary ruling – Intellectual property – Trade marks – Directive (EU) 2015/2436 – Approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks – Article 10(2) – Rights conferred by a trade mark – Article 15 – Exhaustion of the rights conferred by a trade mark – Parallel import of medicinal products – Repackaging of the product bearing the mark – New outer packaging – Opposition by the proprietor of the mark – Artificial partitioning of the markets between Member States – Medicinal products for human use – Directive 2001/83/EC – Article 47a – Safety features – Replacement – Equivalent features – Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/161 – Article 3(2) – Anti-tampering device – Unique identifier)

1. Approximation of laws – Medicinal products for human use – Directive 2001/83 – Parallel import of medicinal products after repackaging and reaffixing of the trade mark – Repackaging in new packaging and relabelling – Equivalent forms of repackaging – Conditions

   (Commission Regulation 2016/161, Arts 34(4) and 35(4); European Parliament and Council Directives 2001/83, Art. 47a(1), and 2011/62)

   (see paragraphs 49-52, operative part 1)
2. EU trade mark – Effects of the EU trade mark – Exhaustion of the rights conferred by a trade mark – Parallel import of medicinal products after repackaging and reaffixing of the trade mark – Opposition of the proprietor – Whether permissible – Conditions

   (European Parliament and Council Directive 2015/2436, Arts 10(2) and 15(1))

   (see paragraphs 56, 58-68, operative part 2)
3. EU trade mark – Effects of the EU trade mark – Exhaustion of the rights conferred by a trade mark – Parallel import of medicinal products after repackaging and reaffixing of the trade mark – Opposition of the proprietor – Whether permissible – Conditions

   (European Parliament and Council Directives 2001/83, Art. 47a(1), and 2015/2436, Arts 10(2) and 15(1))

   (see paragraphs 71, 75-79, 82-86, operative part 3)

[See the text of the decision.](https://curia.europa.eu/juris/documents.jsf?num=C-204/20)

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