Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if trademark legislation can give protection to a UK subsidiary of a multinational company to insist that Irish retailers source products through the UK instead of sourcing the same product from the United States at a lower cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9865/05]

Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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The essential purpose of trademark legislation is to protect trade mark proprietors through giving them exclusive rights to the use of trade marks on their products. Trademark legislation is not designed to specifically address distribution issues of the kind reflected in the Deputy's question.

Article 7 of Directive 89/104/EC — the trademark harmonisation directive — applicable to all member states sets out the principle of Community exhaustion of rights. Under that principle, a proprietor of a trademark is prevented from relying on the exclusive rights conferred by the mark, where goods bearing that mark have been placed on the market within the European Economic Area with the proprietor's consent. A considerable body of European case law relating to parallel importing using a registered trade mark and the exhaustion of rights concept exists, which may be relevant in the context of the Deputy's question. The concept of international exhaustion of rights, that is where products are placed on the market outside of the EEA, does not exist.

In the context of the foregoing, the aggrieved party or parties in the case referred to by the Deputy may wish to obtain professional legal advice and opinion of such case law as it might apply in their particular circumstances. If they feel there are any issues of an anti-competitive nature, they should contact the Competition Authority in the matter. The authority is an independent body charged with enforcing the Competition Act 2002, which prohibits anti-competitive practices and the abuse of a dominant position in the market.