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Jun 8, 2017

SCOTUS Clarifies Long Established Patent Exhaustion Doctrine

Printer Cartridges

On Tuesday, May 30th, in its decision in Impression Products, Inc. v. Lexmark International, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court provided clarity to the long-established patent exhaustion doctrine in connection with the resale of patented products, stating that a patent owner can no longer control its patented product under patent law after the authorized sale regardless of post-sale restrictions, but may restrict further sales of the product through other areas of law such as contract law. Patent exhaustion is a U.S. common law patent doctrine that limits the extent to which patent holders can control an individual article of a patented… Read more