4 ms·
> There is no analog for the first sale doctrine... There is. It is called patent exhaustion. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaustion_doctrine_under_U.S._
by derf_ 3y ago
> There is no analog for the first sale doctrine...
There is. It is called patent exhaustion. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaustion_doctrine_under_U.S._law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaustion_doctrine_under_U.S....
There was a fad of issuing a "covenant not to sue" in lieu of a license, specifically to try to avoid triggering exhaustion, but courts seem to be (correctly, in my IANAL opinion) treating them as licenses anyway. See, e.g., https://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2013/01/3rd-circuit-covenant-not-to-sue-is-a-license-and-therefore-not-dischargeable-in-bankruptcy.html https://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2013/01/3rd-circuit-covenan...
- fweimer 3y agoBut isn't that easily avoided by suitably scoping the license grant?
- derf_ 3y agoI would not say "easily"... patent holders will absolutely try to avoid the effects of exhaustion by imposing post-sale or field-of-use restrictions, but lawsuits about it have gone to the Supreme Court, e.g., https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/553/617/ https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/553/617/ (and not worked out well for the patent holder).