Exhaustion

Exhaustion means that, once a product embodying an intellectual property right is lawfully placed on the market by the rightholder or with consent, certain distribution rights over that individual item are used up. The buyer may normally resell or transfer it, while reproduction, adaptation or use of the mark in a misleading way remains restricted. Swiss law applies different exhaustion rules depending on the right, with particular distinctions in patent, trademark and copyright contexts. The concept is central to parallel imports and secondary markets.