The Court of Turin has once again ruled on the principle of trademark exhaustion.

The Court of Turin recently ruled once again on the principle of trademark exhaustion in connection with preliminary injunctions sought by a company operating in the cosmetics and perfumery market, which sought to prevent certain assignees from using its trademark and marketing products associated with it.

As is well known, the Industrial Property Code provides that the exclusive rights of a trademark owner are exhausted upon the first placing of the product on the market; therefore, the owner of the trademark cannot oppose its subsequent marketing. 

As the judge noted in the ruling, the rationale behind this provision is to prevent the trademark owner from using that status to influence market trends for products bearing the mark of which they are the owner. 

The only exception to this rule is when distributors engage in unfair commercial practices; they may adopt sales methods that damage the brand’s reputation and reliability and ultimately result in a loss of appeal and economic value for the branded product.

Except in these cases, no one who is entitled to use the trademark and to market the relevant products shall be prevented from carrying out their business, either with respect to the final price or with respect to the sales system. 

Such restrictions on distributors regarding online sales and the application of price discounts would therefore be unwarranted and unjustified, as these practices do not in themselves constitute disparaging conduct.