What is the exhaustion principle of patent?

The principle of patent exhaustion means that after the patented product (including the product directly obtained according to the patented method) manufactured by the patentee himself or others is legally put on the market, anyone who sells or uses the product no longer needs the permission or authorization of the patentee, which does not constitute infringement.

There is no doubt that the principle of exhaustion of patent rights is applicable in a country. However, due to the regional characteristics of patent rights, can this principle of exhaustion of patent rights also be applied internationally? That is to say, after the same patentee obtains the patent right for the same invention in different countries, and sells or allows others to sell the patented product in one of them, does it also constitute infringement if others import the sold product to another country that has been granted the patent right without the permission of the patentee? This is also a hot issue that has been widely concerned by countries in recent years-parallel import.

In China, according to Item 1 of Article 69 of the newly revised Patent Law in 2009, parallel import is clearly included in the category of statutory non-infringement exception:

The patentee or a unit or individual licensed by him uses, promises to sell, sells or imports patented products or products directly obtained by patented methods.