No exhaustion of an EU trade mark when placing products on the market in Turkey – Article by Dr. Julian Wernicke in GRUR-Prax 01/2025

In the first issue of the new year of the journal “Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht in der Praxis” (GRUR-Prax), attorney at law Dr. Julian Wernicke from BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT addresses the question of whether the rights of a German trade mark or a Union trademark are exhausted when the trade mark owner has already placed the products on the market in Türkiye. This issue touches on a key topic in trade mark law practice that is of significant importance to internationally operating companies.

This question was raised in a decision of the Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg (OLG Nürnberg) dated October 29, 2024 (3 U 881/24, GRUR-RS 2024, 30069 – Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi). The trade mark owner had filed a lawsuit against an importer who had brought the coffee cans, which the trade mark owner had sold in Türkiye, into Germany and resold them. The court ruled in favor of the trade mark owner, deciding that placing products on the market in Turkey does not lead to trade mark exhaustion in relation to the holder of a German or Union trade mark. In making its decision, the court also took into account the provisions of the “Additional Protocol to the Agreement of September 12, 1963, establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and Türkiye.”

The full article by Dr. Julian Wernicke, titled “No exhaustion of a Union trade mark when products are placed on the market in Türkiye,” can be found in the printed edition of GRUR-Prax 01/2025. Subscribers to Beck-Online can also access the article in German online here.