The thesis focuses on the concept of parallel imports in the Czech law in light of the judicature of the European Court of Justice. In the first part of the thesis, after a brief introduction to the Czech trademark law, the thesis seeks to define the individual competencies of trademark owners and their restrictions, with an emphasis on the concept of exhaustion of the rights towards the trademark. The second part of the thesis focuses exclusively on the concept of parallel imports within the European Union and the European Economic Area and their impact on the internal market. The issue of exhaustion of the ownerʼs rights towards the trademark, being closely related to parallel imports and without which parallel imports as such could not exist, represent a key part of the European Court of Justiceʼs rulings. The analysis of the rulings conducted in the thesis demonstrates that the possibilities of trademark owners to inhibit parallel imports are significantly limited and that the European Court of Justice tends to assign greater importance to protecting the internal market than to protecting the subjective rights of the trademark owners.

Parallel imports and trademark law in the Czech Republic This thesis goal is to provide a basic introduction to Czech trademark law and to analyse parallel imports. I wanted to emphasize the "exhaustion of rights "principle in the context of the law of the European Union also in the context of law in the Czech Republic. It covers some of the most intriguing aspects of parallel imports for example "placed on the market", "consent of a trade mark owner", "repackaging and other changed of the parallel imported goods "by examining the most important Court of Justice of the European Union (before European Court of Justice) decisions that have set a solid legal environment and use them to explain how parallel imports have evolved. The thesis focuses on Czech and European trademark law and parallel imports in the law of the Czech Republic, as a member state of European Union. At the first part of thesis I explain what is trademark law, it's sense and intent in general. I also examine the fundamental sources of Czech national trademark law, trademark law of the European Union and international law. Which is followed by description what a "trademark" is and which trademarks are protected in Czech Republic, their functions and "trademark owners" as a basics terminology of trademark law in Czech Republic. Next part...

IN ENGLISH Trade mark law and the issues of parallel imports under Czech law The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the trade mark law and the issues of parallel imports under Czech law. The thesis describes the present situation in the Czech Republic, points out the influence of the European Union and considers the impact of the current regulation of parallel imports concerning trademarked goods. The paper also focuses on the court decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union which have great effect on the law effective in the Czech Republic. The reason for my research is the ongoing international discussion on that topic and the necessity to find balance among contrary interests of trademark owners, parallel importers and consumers. The aim of the thesis is presented at the beginning. The next chapter of the thesis is introductory and defines basic terminology in general. The third chapter looks at the Czech legislation connected to the topic and highlights its connection to the European law. The next section analyzes the law of the European Union and is subdivided into three parts. The first part outlines the historical context and sets out the basic facts. The next part is concerned with a leading principle used in the European Union - the principle of community exhaustion. The last...

The purpose of the thesis is to analyse the phenomenon of parallel imports, define the pros and cons of parallel trade for respective entities and also society as a whole as well as describe how the trademark law may influence parallel importation of trademarked goods. In addition, the thesis analyses individual means of legal protection against parallel imports identified as illegal. After the introduction summarizing why it is appropriate to deal with the parallel importation phenomenon, the second part of the thesis describes the basic concepts in the context of parallel import issues: trademarks, parallel imports and exhaustion of trademark rights. The second part also describes the positive and negative impacts of parallel trade and why the doctrine of exhaustion of trademark rights appears to be the most appropriate way how to solve the difficulties in the relationship between trademark owners and parallel importers. The third part of the thesis aims to provide a reader with the basic sources of law which affect the phenomenon of parallel importation from the trademark law's point of view. As it follows from the third part of the thesis and also the whole work, the key legal source for the European region, including the Czech Republic, is the law of the European Union together with the case...

The thesis deals with the analysis of exhaustion of trade mark rights, it focuses mainly on the comunnity-wide exhaustion. It is based mainly on the interpretation of the case law of the European Court of Justice which is used both to describe the creation and development of the principle and to help to evaluace its importace on the field of the common market and its practical conclusions. Appart from the community-wide exhaustion, big part of the thesis is represented with the global exhaustion whose possible introduction has been topic of many discussions.

L'article 42 de la Convention de Vienne impose au vendeur de livrer la marchandise libre de tout droit ou prétention de tiers fondé sur la propriété intellectuelle. Ses conditions d'entrée en jeu requièrent l'analyse de ce que chaque contractant connaissait ou ne pouvait ignorer au sujet de la propriété intellectuelle du tiers. Ce passage de la Convention connaît des interprétations variées. Afin de contribuer à une interprétation uniforme et plus prévisible de l'article, le projet s'attache à le replacer sur la trame plus générale du commerce international, où le droit de la propriété intellectuelle pose des obstacles aux mouvements transfrontaliers des marchandises. Il est d'abord comparé avec la théorie de l'épuisement des droits, puis mis en parallèle avec les moyens qui sont accessibles aux opérateurs commerciaux pour prévenir le problème d'interférence avec les droits intellectuels. À la lumière des modes limités de publicité des droits intellectuels et de la complexité des régimes conçus pour protéger les créations, il apparaît que ce domaine ne permet pas de prévenir efficacement les risques pouvant contrecarrer la vente. La solution proposée par la Convention de Vienne est enfin confrontée aux principes généraux dont elle s'inspire. Ceux-ci disposent de présomptions d'égalité et de compétence à l'égard des opérateurs. Elles ne peuvent être repoussées que par une démonstration de déséquilibre substantiel, ce qui provoque l'intensification des obligations d'information et de coopération sur les épaules du contractant qualifié au service de l'autre. Il ressort de la démarche que l'équilibre contractuel qui sous-tend l'article 42 se fonde sur une répartition particulière de la prévention. La spécificité des droits intellectuels le requiert. / Article 42 of the Vienna Sales Convention requires that the seller delivers goods which are free from any right or claim of a third party based on intellectual property. Its trigger mechanism, however, requires the analysis of what each party knew of said intellectual property or what they each could not have been unaware of. This passage has been the object of various interpretations. With the intention to contribute to a more uniform and predictable interpretation of article 42, the project seeks to replace the provision in the general context of international trade, where intellectual property law sets obstacles to cross-border movement of goods. Article 42 is first compared with the theory of exhaustion of rights and placed in parallel with the resources available to prevent the problem of interference with intellectual property rights. In light of the limited modes of publicity of intellectual rights and the complexity of the protections they involve, it appears that intellectual property law does not allow effective means of prevention.The solution proposed by the Vienna Convention is finally confronted with the general principles on which it is based. Those principles set forth presumptions of professional quality and equality between parties, which cannot be refuted unless a substantial imbalance can be established. In such cases, the balance can be restored by increased disclosure and cooperation obligations on the shoulders of the qualified party. The project concludes that article 42 is based on a particular distribution of expectations pertaining to the prevention of intellectual property problems. The specificity of intellectual property rights requires such stability.

Le produit de luxe n’est pas un bien comme les autres. Ses qualités matérielles et immatérielles lui confèrent une valeur particulière qui oblige son producteur à le vendre dans un environnement commercial adapté. La règle de droit peut-elle considérer cette particularité économique ? Paradoxalement, la France est leader mondiale du marché des produits de luxe, mais nul n’est en mesure d’affirmer avec précision ce qu’est le luxe. Intégrer une notion aussi insaisissable au sein d’un raisonnement juridique semble difficile. Pourtant, les atteintes subies par les titulaires des droits du produit de luxe ont convaincu le juge européen de mettre en place des règles protectrices spéciales. Le but poursuivi est légitime. Il s’agit de protéger les investissements réalisés pour vendre et promouvoir le produit de luxe. Mais cette démarche légale s’appuie sur une méthode de qualification qui n’est pas satisfaisante. L’«aura», le «prestige» ou la «sensation» de luxe qui émanent du produit marqué, sont des critères trop subjectifs pour assurer l’application systématique et cohérente de règles protectrices. C’est pourquoi, outre la démonstration d’un corpus de règles applicables au produit de luxe, il convient d’analyser les fondements de sa reconnaissance par le droit positif, ainsi que l’instauration d’un régime unifié reposant sur des critères de définition précis, prenant en considération les qualités intrinsèques de ce bien particulier. / The luxury product is not a product like any other. Its material and immaterial qualities confer a special value that requires its producer to sell it in a proper business environment. The rule of law can it consider this economic feature ? Paradoxically, France is world's leading luxury goods market, but no one is able to state precisely what is luxury. The law seems unsuited to integrate a concept as elusive as luxury. Yet, violations suffered by the owners of luxury product rights have convinced the European judge to set up special protective rules. The aim is legitimate. This is to protect the investments made to sell and promote luxury products. But this legal approach is based on a method of qualification which is not satisfactory. The "will", "prestige" or the "feel" of luxury emanating frombranded product, are too subjective criteria to ensure systematic and consistent implementation of protective rules. Therefore, in addition to the demonstration of a body of rules applicable to the luxury product, it should analyze the foundations of its recognition by positive law and the establishment of a unified system based on criteria precise definition, taking into account the intrinsic qualities of that particular property.