Parallel import
Also called: Grey market import · Topic: International Trade Policy, WTO and Intellectual Property · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A parallel import is when someone imports a genuine patented or branded product from a country where it was legally sold, without the IP holder's consent. It rests on exhaustion of rights: once the holder sells the product, their control over resale ends. India follows international exhaustion (Patents Act s. 107A(b)), so a sale anywhere in the world exhausts the right. This helps keep prices down.
Example
Say a company sells a patented medicine more cheaply in another country than in India. An Indian importer can buy it there and sell it in India without the patent holder's permission.
Don't confuse with
- Counterfeit or pirated goods: these are fake or unauthorised copies. Parallel imports are genuine products that were first sold legally.
- Compulsory licence: this lets a third party make a patented product without consent, on payment of royalty. A parallel import only moves goods the holder already sold.
Related concepts
- Intellectual property rights
- TRIPS
- Patent
- Evergreening of patents
- Pre-grant opposition
- Compulsory licensing
- Data exclusivity
- TRIPS-plus provisions
- Patent pool
- Patent thicket