We report on an en banc decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit clarifying the law of patent exhaustion, trademark cases involving Stolichnaya vodka and canvas tote bags, and copyright cases involving ranch-house floor plans and “monkey selfies.”
Patent Exhaustion: Resales
Some recent Supreme Court and Federal Circuit cases construing the Patent Act have looked to the copyright and trademark statutes as persuasive authority, relying on symmetries and differences among the three bodies of law. On Feb. 12, 2016, the en banc Federal Circuit reconsidered some of its long-settled patent precedents in light of recent Supreme Court precedents, including the copyright exhaustion decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, 133 S. Ct. 1351 (2013). Lexmark Int’l v. Impression Prods., No. 2014-1617, 2016 WL 559042 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 12, 2016) (en banc). While the court ultimately reaffirmed its prior patent precedents, the case is noteworthy because it addresses an important issue, and does so in an unusual and significant procedural posture.
