Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Also worth mentioning you may be covered by the first-sale doctrine[1]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine



As that page says, that's about copyright, not patents. The analogous concept for patents is "exhaustion doctrine":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaustion_doctrine

According to that page, it only applies to sales that were originally authorized. The way I read it, it means that is Ford licenses a patent for its buyers, the patent holder can't then go after buyers of used Fords, even though Ford may not have explicitly licensed used buyers. It does not, however, protect any Ford buyers, new or used, if Ford failed to license the patent at all.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: