Cases reveal principle's relevance to patent
law
THERE were two recent decisions – one in the USA and one
in the UK – which dealt with the important but
seldom-discussed concept of patent exhaustion.
Patent exhaustion in essence means this: the initial authorised
sale of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item,
for the reason that the owner of the patent (the patentee) has been
rewarded for its ingenuity by that sale.
Nestec v Dualit
The UK decision was that of Nestec v Dualit, and it
dealt with that absolute necessity of modern life - the
Nespresso machine - and more particularly, the capsules
that are used to make a cup of coffee. Nestec has a patent relating
to a capsule extraction device and it sued Dualit for making and
selling a capsule that was compatible with the Nespresso
machine - and cheaper than the official capsule.
