ABSTRACT
The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community in 1957. As the name implies, the EEC is a grouping of European countries that have "resolved to ensure the economic and social progress of their countries by common action to eliminate the barriers which divide Europe". The European Court of Justice has given rise to an important body of case law on parallel imports. If the initial contact between national intellectual property rights and Community policy on the free movement of goods resulted in a marked weakening of the scope of the rights, the decline was not meant to continue forever. Rights over creations were not the only intellectual property rights in conflict with the rules of the Treaty on the free movement of goods that the Court was asked to decide upon. The intellectual property rights that are at stake must also be defined, since the language of the treaty is somewhat vague and open to interpretation.
