Jeff Keustermans and Karel Janssens appeared on February 8 before the European Court of Justice in a ‘landmark’ trademark case. The question was whether ‘debranding’, which is the removal of a brand, should be considered as a ‘use’ of a trademark against which the rightful owner may oppose. To complicate the case even further the question concerns specifically the situation where the debranding occurs at the customs storage and hence before the (in Asia) acquired goods are effectively imported into the European Union.
The case has been pleaded extensively before the Court, after which the judges and the Advocate-General asked about 15 questions to the counsels of the involved parties and the European Commission. The Advocate-General communicated at the end of the session that he will submit his opinion on April 26, 2018. The response of the Court will doubtless have legal, economic as well as political consequences.