Parallel Import and Implementation of the Principle of Exhaustion of Exclusive Rights in the Context of Contractual Relations of Economic Entities

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of the influence of contractual relations on the issue of exhaustion of exclusive rights and the organization of parallel imports in general. The fact and form of the consent of the right holder to use the intellectual property object as part of a specific product, batch of goods, as well as determining the fact of the completed use of intellectual property rights during the primary sale of goods are of particular importance for understanding the nature of the exhaustion of rights and resolving disputes in the field of parallel imports. The solution of the problems under consideration is complicated by the territorial principle of protection of intellectual property rights. The author substantiates that contractual structures and specific provisions of contracts with right holders, as well as various related contractual structures, including sublicensing agreements, franchising agreements, can play the role of legal means that ensure parallel imports. The conclusion is drawn that the possibility of expressing the consent of the copyright holder to the use of other objects of intellectual property, including a trademark, objects of patent rights, through a unilateral expression of will (statement of the copyright holder) should be provided for by law in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The necessary balance between the intangible nature of intellectual property and the material nature of the object of property rights in which it is expressed, in the context of the initiative granting by the right holder of the right to use the object of intellectual property in a particular product, can be achieved through perception at the regulatory and law enforcement level. the concept of an implied license as a way of granting the right to use an object of intellectual property