The Sale of Patented Methods: Reconciling On-Sale Bar & Patent Exhaustion Doctrines in Light of In re Kollar & Quanta v. LG

Abstract

In Quanta v. LG Electronics, the Supreme Court held that the first sale doctrine applied to exhaust rights in a process patent. This ruling clarified lower court decisions finding that process patents were not subject to the first sale doctrine. The Supreme Court's ruling raises questions about the treatment of processes for the on sale bar. Lower court decisions hold that the on sale bar does not apply to process patents. This article examines this apparent inconsistency and offers suggestions for reconciling the sale of processes under the first sale doctrine and the on sale bar.

Keywords: Intellectual Property, Patent Law and Policy

JEL Classification: K2