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 T\u00fcrkiye. This issue touches on a key topic in trade mark law practice that is of significant importance to internationally operating companies.<\/p>\n
This question was raised in a decision of the Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg (OLG N\u00fcrnberg) dated October 29, 2024 (3 U 881\/24, GRUR-RS 2024, 30069 \u2013 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 T\u00fcrkiye, 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 \u201cAdditional Protocol to the Agreement of September 12, 1963, establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and T\u00fcrkiye.\u201d<\/p>\n