US Experts lean in on Loui Vuitton’s trademark suit against Korean bag repair shops

On August 21, 10 US-based law professors with expertise in intellectual property law filed a joint amicus brief, explaining to the Korean court on the luxury bag maker’s suit against a repair shop in Seoul the fundamental principles that underlie the two federal appellate cases on the scope of exhaustion doctrine as applied to repair shops. Karl Storz v Fiber Tech and Karl Storz v Surgical Tech, ruling on the repair shops of endoscopes, seemed on surface to conflict with each other. Karl Storz v Surgical Tech was especially relied on by Loui Vuitton’s legal team as a statement that substantial repairs even if done at the bag owner’s request exclude the exhaustion doctrine.

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