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Your point sounds reasonable, but there's a good reason to block first sale. Suppose I run a firm that sells custom men's clothing, that has a patent to, say,
by rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
Your point sounds reasonable, but there's a good reason to block first sale.
Suppose I run a firm that sells custom men's clothing, that has a patent to, say, change color and temperature at the wearer's preference. Each outfit has to be personally tailored by a professional designated by our company.
Now, perhaps a high-end men's clothing retailer begins selling my clothing and tailors it in-house. The quality is comparable and they compensate my company. So far so good, right?
Well, what if quality isnt comparable? What if the stitching was improperly done and felt too tight, or unraveled over time? Even if the customer knew that the "re"-seller wasn't an official associate, the damage to our brand would already be done.
And that's why first sale should be at the discretion of the patent holder.
- onnoonno 11y agoBut there's all the laws around brand name recognition already? Why bring in patents at all?
- icebraining 11y agoYeah, you can use trademark law to enforce quality control, which makes much more sense than using patents, which the product might or might not even have.
- AnthonyMouse 11y agoThen the question becomes whether first sale applies to trademarks, which it does, doesn't it?
- AnthonyMouse 11y agoI don't even see that he did bring patents in at all. It seems to be a total non-sequitur. The argument is entirely about branding. How does "...and it happens to be patented" change anything about how the quality of the secondhand product reflects on the brand?
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoPatent covering the ability for clothing to change color and temperature at will. I thought that point was clear.
- AnthonyMouse 11y agoBut what does the patent have anything to do with anything? The seller would still be interested in protecting their brand even if the product wasn't patented and the patent would still exist even if the product was sold under a generic label. There is no apparent connection between the patent and the interest in protecting the brand.