Over the last several months, the United States Supreme Court
has issued a number of opinions that have broad implications to the
automotive industry, particularly on the eve of commercial launches
of autonomous vehicles. These opinions cover obscure legal issues
from forum shopping for the purpose of taking advantage of Texas
"Rocket Docket" to whether accused patent infringers can
assert a defense of laches.
While each of these opinions is relevant in its own way, one
recent opinion could have significant implications to the auto
industry, particularly with respect to maintenance, repair and
modification by owners of vehicles. The Court's decision in Impression Products v. Lexmark reinforced
and strengthened the patent exhaustion doctrine, which is the legal
principle that once a patented product is sold, the patent rights
of the patent holder become exhausted. In other words, the
purchaser of the patented product and all subsequent owners are
free to use or resell
