The Gray Blog

Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco”) has filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to revisit and reconsider the proper interpretation of the first sale rule for foreign manufacturing and sales of products.  The Petition arises in Costco v. Omega, S.A. a case out of the 9th circuit.  This action arises out of the efforts of respondent
Omega, S.A. (“Omega”), to prevent petitioner Costco from reselling watches originally sold by Omega to authorized for-
eign distributors.  Omega affixed a symbol to its watches that it later registered under the Copyright Act in order to claim that, as foreign manufactured goods, under the rationale set forth in Quality King Distribs., Inc. v. L’Anza Research Int’l, Inc., 523 U.S. 135 (1998).  The Ninth Circuit upheld that the resale of the products was not protected by the first sale doctrine.  According to Costco: “The words “lawfully made under this title” quite clearly do not mean “manufactured in the United States,
and also manufactured abroad, but only in instances where the copyright holder sells into the United States.”  We will continue to monitor.

The European Commission has enacted a 40% reduction in the official fees required to obtain a Community Trade Mark by merging the application and registration fees.  Previously an application fee was paid at the start of the registration process and an additional fee was paid once the registration was granted.  Effective May 1, 2009, the registration fee portion has been eliminated for all pending and future applications.  The current total official fees for a CTM application are € 1,050.00 for a paper application and € 900 for an electronic application.  Effective August 1, 2009, the official fee for a CTM international application under the Madrid Protocol will be reduced to € 870.00.

This change reflects a desire to encourage great use of the CTM system by small and mid-size firms.  “As a non-profit-making European agency, we have been trying to play our part in providing value for money in this essential service. Taking into account the earlier cut in trade mark fees in 2005, through efficiency measures and greater use of computer technology we have been able to more than halve the cost of Community trade marks over a five year period.”

Justice USA has listed the Gray Blog amongst its top 50 Internet law blogs.  Other popular and well known blogs which also made the list include The TTABlog, The Legal Satyricon, Erik J. Heels, Likelihood of Confusion, Technology and Marketing Law Blog
and the ABA Journal Privacy Law Blog.  Justice USA is a new blog devoted to personal security and law issues.