PATENT-EXHAUSTION DOCTRINE

patent-exhaustion doctrine.Patents. The rule that the unconditioned sale of a patented article ends the patentee’s monopoly right to control its use. • That control may still be exercised by limitations in a contract or license, as long as it does not amount to anticompetitive patent misuse.

Adams v. Burke, 84 U.S. (17 Wall.) 453 (1874). See FIRST-SALE DOCTRINE. [Cases: Patents  191. C.J.S. Patents §§ 217, 314, 339.]

[Blacks Law 8th]