@d-k_treasures wrote:
Let us know when you dig through, because the statement by the WP just says:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that companies give up their patent rights when they sell an item
which seems to imply that after the company sells something the first time, their patent is then moot and anyone can copy that item.
That's not the implication. Patents are granted to give a company exclusive rights to sell their design, without competition, so as to make whatever profit they desire on their sales. The question before the court was whether or not that right extended to refurbishers, resellers, etc. of the patented items because if someone was selling a patented product at a discount, it obviously provides competition and takes away market share (specifically, Lexmark was suing toner refillers).
The court simply said that once a product is sold, then it can be modified, refurbished, etc. and then resold ... and the patent holder cannot block those sales based on patents.
There are some manufacturers (I think Coach might be one) that agressively attack resales of their products because they do not want brand devaluation. They might use things like VERO to get listings pulled.
