Trademarks, along with patents and industrial designs, constitute one of the most important areas of industrial rights. In addition to their functions of indicating the source, nowadays, brands have gained value on their own, and have become the subject of investment and trade. Therefore, the protection of brands is important for brand owners. On the other hand, protecting brands is also important for consumers, because the brands point out the origin of the products and determine certain qualifications such as quality, warranty, status, reliability etc. Based on the above-mentioned importance in terms of social welfare, brands are protected in various ways in almost all countries. In this context, brand owners are given the right and authority to prevent their brands from being used on any other goods or packaging without their consent, as well as to prevent the import or export of goods bearing the name of the said brand. The rights of the brand owner are absolute rights. However, although they vary from country to country, various restrictions are imposed to the rights holders on exercising their rights for various reasons. In this context, one of the limitations imposed on the use of intellectual property rights (IPR) is the "exhaustion principle". This principle, in its broadest sense, states that “the owner of the right cannot interfere the distribution of the product for private or commercial purposes after a product containing the right that he owns has been commercially launched by him/herself or anyone authorized by him/her” 1. Within the framework of this principle, the right owner do not lose their rights on the brand, they only lose the right of disposition on the trade of the goods that they offered on the market.
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