Parallel Importation and the WTO Rules and Regulations

Parallel importation takes places when products protected by patent, trademark or copyright are first placed on the market, and then (re-) imported into a second market without the authorization of the original owner of the intellectual property.Many of the firms in the developing countries, with the support of their national states, are engaged in this form of trade. Parallel importation, would prevent any monopolization and hence would provide the developing countries with many products at low costs. By contrast, the advanced countrie's main purpose is to protect their enterprises and to do so their prime endeavours have been to bar any re-importation which has not secured the prior consent of the original owners. Hence, while the developing countries have adopted the exhaustion of the intellectual property rights at the international level, the developed world has done it at the national and regional levels.The prime intent of the latter is to enhance their technological and industrial level and secure their competitive edge.This dichotomy finds its way in Article 6 of the TRIPS whereby Members Countries have been given the option of choosing any one of the principles (national, regional or international exhaustion) they may deem fit for their development.The Iranian new law on patent, industrial property rights and trademarks, for reasons unexplained, has adopted the national exhaustion principle. This approach may not be in consonant with the economic and industrial advancement of Iran. Its replacement with the adoption of an international exhaustion is, therefore, Recommended.