If you head into some CostCo stores you’ll be surprised to find Omega watches at a considerably discount. Those are grey market pieces and CostCo essentially sells them “illegaly,” the illegality stemming from Omega’s authorized reseller policy and little else. It works like this:
Companies that make high-end products often try to control distribution so that the goods do not end up selling for less. However, many offer cheaper prices to distributors in other countries. Costco and other retailers buy the products from those distributors, ship them to the U.S. and sell them at a discount.
Well Swatch Group is taking the case to the Supreme Court, essentially tying to stop the practice on copyright grounds. The Court of Appeals found CostCo not infringing but it will be interesting to see what the Supreme court has to say about the whole thing in the end.
