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The purpose of this study is to consider parallel imports permitted in Korea and examine judicial precedents in Korea and other foreign countries so that the problems of parallel imports will be anticipated and solutions will also be foreseen.
Parallel imports, which are sometimes referred to as "grey market" imports, refer to goods that have been placed into circulation in a first market by or with the permission of the patent's holders, and then imported into a second market without the permission of the holder of such rights. The ability of the holder or licensee of intellectual property rights in that second market to prevent importation depends on the way "exhaustion" of rights are treated in that second market.
Parallel imports arise in response to the possibility of profitable arbitrage; where there is a sufficient difference in the price of a product in two markets to justify a third party (the arbitrageur) procuring the product in a first market, transporting and selling it in the second market. Parallel imports are stimulated by this profit potential, and are not likely to occur in the absence of that profit potential.
One of the direct causes of parallel imports is price difference. Profits of Intellectual Property rights holders are opposed to those of Parallel Importers'. Because of this confrontation of each profit there might be a problem. Infringements of Intellectual Property rights could occur. This problem has been on the increase for several decades, and has many factors contributing to it. Although there is the source of the problem, our law does not offer an inconsistent standard. Flaws of law should be revised.
Customs Law is one of the representative laws that rules parallel imports in Korea. Though it offers standards of parallel imports, the standards which are stated in Customs Law are not explicit. It does not indicate clear standards whether parallel imports are permitted in fields
of Trademark Law, Patent Law and Copyright Law.
Antitrust Law also regulates that parallel imports should not be restricted without good reason to make a fair competitive market.
However, still, Antitrust Law does not state exact standards and it only mentions rules about trademark goods. Problems with regards to parallel imports have been handled as conflicts of property versus property. However, it turns out that the problems about parallel imports are conflicts of property versus human rights because of the circumstance that people of the world's poorest nations could not afford to purchase bffoded drugs which are expensive for them. WTO member governments adopted the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health ntsconsensus at the WTO’s Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. Its purpose is to respond to the concerns that have been expressed that the TRIPS Agreement might make some drugs difficult to obtain for patients in poor countries.
To complement the problems of parallel imports, I recommend to organize an association of parallel importers to give customers good after-sales services and prevent distribution of inferior goods.