21As far as the case before the national court is concerned, the following two points must be made:— the principle of exhaustion of rights laid down in Article 7 applies where the owner of the trade mark in the State of import and the owner of the mark in the State of export are the same or where, even if they are different persons, they are economically linked, for example as subsidiaries of the same group (see Case C-9/93 IHT Internationale Heiztechnik ν Ideal-Standard [1994] ECR I-2789, paragraphs 34 and 37), and— it is of no importance for the application of Article 7 of the Trade Mark Directive whether or not the product protected by the mark has been manufactured in a non-member country if it has in any event been lawfully put on the market, in the Member State from which it has been imported, by the owner of the mark or with the owner's consent, including marketing by another company in the same group as the owner.
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