K Mart Corporation v. Cartier, Inc., et al. (485 U.S. 176)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 7, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 485 U.S. 176 · 108 S. Ct. 950
- Decided
- March 7, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1987
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Brennan
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court. A “gray-market” good is a foreign-manufactured good bearing a valid United States trademark, which is imported without the consent of the United States trademark owner. This action presents the issues whether a federal district court has jurisdiction to hear a challenge to the Secretary of the Treasury’s regulation permitting the importation of certain gray-market goods, 19 CFR § 133.21 (1987), and, if so, whether the regulation is a reasonable agency interpretation of § 526(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (1930 Tariff Act), 46 Stat. 741, as amended, 19 U. S. C. § 1526. I Section 526(a) of the 1930 Tariff Act prohibits importing “into the United States any merchandise of foreign manufacture if such merchandise . . . bears a trademark owned by a citizen of, or by a corporation or association created or organized within, the United States, and registered in the Patent and Trademark Office by a person domiciled in the United States . . . , unless written consent of the owner of such trademark is produced at the time of making entry.” 19 U. S. C. § 1526(a). The Customs Service regulation that implements § 526(a) does not prohibit importation of gray-market goods where the foreign manufacturer is affiliated with the United States trademark owner or has received the owner’s authorization to use its trademark. The regulation provides…
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