It's not a precedent, it's a central part of patent law, right there in the statutes. You pretty much can't do anything with a patented invention unless you ha

It's not a precedent, it's a central part of patent law, right there in the statutes. You pretty much can't do anything with a patented invention unless you have permission. If you could get round it by saying "oh yeah I bought it off this other guy" then the entire system would collapse. Which would be no bad thing, but that's not how it works.