Opinion ID: 581353
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Count V--Lanham Act

Text: 25 Yamaha-America also claimed in Count V that its rights under section 42 of the Lanham Act were being violated by ABC's gray-market importation. The relevant portion of section 42 provides that 26 no article of imported merchandise ... which shall copy or simulate a trademark registered in accordance with the provisions of this chapter or shall bear a name or mark calculated to induce the public to believe that the article is manufactured in the United States ... shall be admitted to entry at any customhouse of the United States.... 27 15 U.S.C. § 1124 (1988). According to Judge Lew, however, Yamaha-America had already admitted that the goods imported by ABC were genuine Yamaha items. Relying on NEC Electronics v. CAL Circuit Abco, 810 F.2d 1506 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 851, 108 S.Ct. 152, 98 L.Ed.2d 108 (1987), and Olympus Corp. v. United States, 792 F.2d 315 (2d Cir.1986), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1042, 108 S.Ct. 2033, 100 L.Ed.2d 618 (1988), Judge Lew concluded that the importation of genuine goods is not actionable under the Lanham Act. ABC, 703 F.Supp. at 1404. Judge Lew interpreted NEC Electronics as holding that no cause of action arose under the Lanham Act when an American importer imported genuine trademarked items that had been sold overseas by the parent of the American trademark holder. Id. (emphasis in original). Judge Lew found this interpretation of the Lanham Act to be a reasonable one because the decision to sell goods at a lower price abroad (thereby creating conditions for a gray market) is made by the same people who control the American subsidiary; allowing that subsidiary to claim a trademark violation would effectively provide the foreign company with a means of insulating the American economy from the effects of international competition. Accordingly, he granted summary judgment against Yamaha-America on its Lanham-Act claim. 28 Yamaha-America moved under Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for the entry of final judgment as to all claims for the purposes of expediting appeal. Judge Lew denied the motion, and Yamaha-America moved for reconsideration. In its memorandum in support of its motion for reconsideration, Yamaha-America argued that the goods imported by ABC were physically different from those imported by Yamaha-America and therefore did not legitimately fall under the genuine-goods exception to Lanham Act protection. In a one-page order, Judge Lew wrote: 29 [H]aving read and considered the papers filed in support of and in opposition to the motion, the Court hereby removes the motion from the Court's law and motion calendar ... and issues the following order: 30 Plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration is DENIED. IT IS SO ORDERED. 31 Order (filed Mar. 29, 1989).