Exhaustion of rights

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Exhaustion of rights, or the doctrine of exhaustion, is a concept in intellectual property law whereby an intellectual property owner will lose or "exhaust" certain rights after the first use of the subject matter which is the subject of intellectual property rights. For example, the ability of a trademark owner to control further sales of a product bearing its mark are generally "exhausted" following the sale of that product.

This has been explained by the European Commission in a February 2002 press release as follows:

performers, producers of films and phonograms and broadcasters have the exclusive right to allow the objects protected by their rights to be made available to the public, or to forbid their being made available. This "distribution right" is not exhausted except where the first sale in the Community of that object is made by the rightholder or with his consent.^[1]

The concept typically arises in the context of parallel imports, and may therefore be relevant nationally, regionally or internationally, such that if a right becomes "exhausted" in one area or jurisdiction, an intellectual property owner may not be able to enforce its rights in another area or jurisdiction.

Different countries regulate the applicability of the doctrine of exhaustion in relation to different products in different ways.