Overview

As we reported in February 2008, following the second ECJ reference in the long-running case of Boehringer Ingelheim KG v Swingward Ltd (“Boehringer 2”), the Court of Appeal indicated that it was minded to allow parallel importers of pharmaceuticals to repackage freely (i.e. without a prohibition on debranding or cobranding) but reserved its final judgment pending the outcome of a related Austrian reference. That reference queried whether trade mark proprietors could exert any control over the manner of the new packaging for example by way of a principle of only ‘minimum intervention’ being allowed by importers and also what information the importers were required to furnish to manufacturers. The ECJ has now ruled on the Austrian questions.

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