The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Impression Products, Inc. v. Lexmark International, Inc. on patent exhaustion reversing the en banc decision of the CAFC.

This case presents two questions about the scope of the patent exhaustion doctrine: First, whether a patentee that sells an item under an express restriction on the purchaser’s right to reuse or resell the product may enforce that restriction through an infringement lawsuit. And second, whether a patentee exhausts its patent rights by selling its product outside the United States, where American patent laws do not apply. We conclude that a patentee’s decision to sell a product exhausts all of its patent rights in that item, regardless of any restrictions the patentee purports to impose or the location of the sale.(link)

Some commentary:

• Thomas Cotter of Comparative Patent Remedies posted his comments having submitted an amicus brief in favour of the opposite result, and his list of commentary by others.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Patent Docs
• Bloomberg Law