What is the doctrine of patent exhaustion?

The doctrine of patent exhaustion, sometimes referred to as the “First Sale Doctrine”, is a principle of patent law which states that once a patent holder has sold or otherwise authorized the sale of a product, their patent rights for that product are exhausted or used up. This means that the patent holder can no longer control the use or distribution of the product they have already sold. The doctrine of patent exhaustion is seen most often in cases involving the sale of patented technology, such as software code, where the patent holder has to allow the buyer to do whatever they want with the software they have already purchased. In Tennessee, the doctrine of patent exhaustion does not apply as broadly as it does in the rest of the United States. According to Tennessee’s Unfair Competition Law, patent exhaustion does not apply to products that are made with a patented process or method, or where the patented product is used to create a new product. This means that if a person in Tennessee produces a new product using a patented process, the patent holder can still enforce their patent rights over the newly produced product, even if they have already authorized the sale of the patented process or method.

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What is the doctrine of patent exhaustion?

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