Intellectual Property Right Exhaustion

The exhaustion of right is a method of limiting the rights of intellectual property.Exhaustion of right,or the doctrine of exhaustion of right,is close relate to first sale,so that it is named the doctrine of "First Sale",and it is also called "Doctrine of Exhaustion" by some authors. Exhaustion of right means that after the sale of commodities with intellectual property by legal measure,and whoever they were transferred to,owners of intellectual property have no competence to control the transferring.That is the owners exhaust the right one time and they cannot use it again.The issue of exhaustion of right is complicated and there is not any principle of law on it,therefore,authors have controversies on it,and present writer think it is necessary to discuss it.This article has three parts:Part one:the basic theory of exhaustion of right.Firstly,I introduce the definition of rxhaustion of right,and then discuss its characteristics.And secondly,I analyze the potential factors,direct reasons and theoretical basis of Exhaustion of Right in three aspects: the exclusion of intellectual property,the integrity of ownership and the theory of benefit balance.And lastly,I focus on the significance of Exhaustion of Right:to secure the free transferring and to protect the exclusive benefits of the owners of intellectual property.Part two: the territorial effect of exhaustion of right.This part discusses the meaning of internal exhaustion,regional exhaustion and international exhaustion and the attitudes of States to the territorial effect of Exhaustion of Right of intellectual property,and put up what attitude China should have.Part three: the application of exhaustion of right.Exhaustion of right is mere exhaustion of rights of property of intellectual products, and the intellectual property have different effect in different regions, so that it is necessary to analyze the application of Exhaustion of Right in copyright,trademark and patent.Exhaustion of copyright means exhaustion of right in publish.however, what should also be noted are the non-exhaustion of right in publishing on internet,continuing rights of arts. Exhaustion of rights of patent focused on the exhaustion of rights of selling. Exhaustion of rights of trademark focused on the exhaustion of rights of selling. Lastly, present writer put up suggestions of how to improve exhaustion of copyright, patent and trademark in China through analysis of the application of Exhaustion of Right.