Coalition to Preserve the Integrity of American Trademarks v. United States of America

SILBERMAN, Circuit Judge:

This case concerns the validity of regulations issued by the U.S. Customs Service permitting the importation of so-called “grey-market goods” in certain instances. These are goods manufactured abroad bearing legitimate foreign trademarks that are identical to American trademarks. This situation typically arises when a foreign producer creates an American subsidiary that then registers the American trademark. Both the foreign producer and its American subsidiary often wish distribution in the United States to be exclusively controlled by the American subsidiary. If,…