Managing Associate in the IP Litigation Group Cassandra Hill was quoted in Business of Fashion about online sales of luxury 'grey market' products at discounted prices. Grey market products are those bearing an owner's registered trade mark and were produced with the trade mark owner's consent but which are then disposed of/put on the market without the trade mark owner's consent. Such sales can undermine the image of a brand and their products and brand owners are looking for ways to prevent such sales.
Cassandra said; “The [grey marketers] look to see how they can make [their websites] appear to be more high-end and therefore more difficult to say it’s damaging for our clients’ brands. It really is all about the context in which the goods are being sold. Where is the line that crosses from luxury to diminishing luxury? That can sometimes be a difficult line to judge.”
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