January saw the High Court ruling in the Nokia Corporation v HMRC [2009] EWHC 1903 (Ch), 27 July 2009 which saw Nokia losing its request for Judicial Review of the British Government's decision not to suspend or detain goods in transit in the UK but on their way to Columbia. However as a result the Court of Appeal referred the question to the ECJ. The question it had to ask was based on the interpretation of the Counterfeit Goods Regulation (1383/2003/EC) (Regulation) in relation to goods in transit.

The Court of Appeal asked the ECJ the following question "Are non-Community goods bearing a Community trade mark which are subject to customs supervision in a member state and in transit from a non-member state to another non-member state capable of constituting "counterfeit goods" within the meaning of Article 2(1)(a) of [the Regulation] if there is no evidence to suggest that those goods will be put on the market in the EC, either in conformity with a customs procedure or by means of an illicit diversion?". IPO notice, 22 January 2010.