Theoretical basis of the principle of exhaustion of intellectual property rights From the function of intellectual property rights, the theoretical basis of exhaustion of rights is the return of economic interests. The establishment of intellectual property system aims to protect the rights of inventors and creators of works, so that they can make full use of their knowledge products to realize their own economic interests without competition from others. The principle of exhaustion of rights is a kind of restriction on the rights of intellectual property rights holders, and it is set up to balance the negative impact brought by the exclusive rights of intellectual property rights holders. Its main purpose is to restrict the rights of intellectual property owners, so as not to cause excessive monopoly and hinder the free circulation of products. After the owner of intellectual property exclusively manufactures and sells his intellectual property products based on the provisions of the law, he has obtained due economic benefits from such exclusive manufacturing and sales activities, and the basic functions of intellectual property rights have been realized. The intellectual property system gives the obligee exclusive rights and ensures that the obligee can make full use of his intellectual achievements to manufacture and sell intellectual property products without being counterfeited and imitated by others, thus realizing his own economic interests. After the obligee obtains enough economic benefits (second interest return) by relying on this exclusive guarantee condition, the function of intellectual property rights has been realized, and further control over intellectual property products should not be continued. Otherwise, it will hinder the circulation of goods and harm the public interest.
The Trademark Law stipulates "exhaustion of trademark rights", that is, for goods that have been put on the market with the permission of the trademark owner or in other legal ways, others can sell or provide goods with the trademark to the public in other ways without the permission of the trademark owner, including using the trademark in advertisements for this purpose. After the trademark right is exhausted, others continue to use the trademark to resell or distribute the sold goods in trade activities, which does not constitute infringement.
The copyright law stipulates that the right to issue is exhausted at one time, which is the restriction of the copyright law on the right to issue. It means that although the copyright owner has the right to provide the original or copy of a work to the public by means of ownership transfer, the copyright owner has no right to control the retransfer of a specific original or copy after the original or copy of a legally produced work is sold or donated to the public for the first time with the permission of the copyright owner.
In the field of patent right, once the patented product manufactured or imported by the patentee himself or the patented product manufactured or imported by others authorized by the patentee or the product directly obtained by the patented method is put on the market, the patentee loses control of its patented product. Where the product transferee or others use, sell or promise to sell the patented product, it shall not be regarded as infringement. From the perspective of ownership, the principle of exhaustion of rights is reasonable. The transferee of a patented product obtains the ownership of the product after paying the price of the product. As the owner, the transferee of patented products is of course free to dispose of their products. There is no difference between patented products and general products here. It's just that there are two different rights on patented products, namely, patent right and ownership, but these two rights belong to different obligees-patentee and patentee. The transferee of the patented product has only obtained the ownership of the patented product, and the patent right still belongs to the patentee (intellectual property rights are separated from the carrier property rights)-the principle of exhaustion of patent rights should be applied to exhaust the right to use and sell the product, otherwise the transferee of the patented product will lose the meaning of buying the product.
Legal basis:
Copyright law of the people's Republic of China
Article 11
Copyright belongs to the author, except as otherwise provided by this law.
The natural person who creates a work is the author.
A work presided over by a legal person or an organization without legal personality, created on behalf of the will of the legal person or organization without legal personality, and for which the legal person or organization without legal personality is responsible, shall be regarded as the author.
Article 12 The natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization of a signed work is the author and has corresponding rights in the work, unless there is evidence to the contrary.
Authors and other copyright owners may register their works with registration agencies recognized by the national copyright authorities.
The provisions of the preceding two paragraphs shall apply mutatis mutandis to copyright-related rights.