Patent Exhaustion on Trial in the United States

Abstract

This chapter examines intellectual property exhaustion policy and doctrine with a focus on the parallels between copyright and patent law.

Specifically, the chapter addresses where similar doctrines of exhaustion should apply to both patent and copyright law, particularly in the area of international trade, starting with the United States. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ongoing dispute, in the United states in particular, between Lexmark and providers of reuse printer cartridges, which raises issues of contractual limits on exhaustion and global exhaustion principles.