Repair and Refill as Indirect Patent Infringement

Repair and Refill as Indirect Patent Infringement
Christopher Heath

ISBN 978-90-411-3136-2
Kluwer Law International BV, The Netherlands

The previous chapter dealt with the issue of spare parts replacement as a potential (direct) patent infringement. The main issue in this context is the interpretation and scope of the exhaustion doctrine and the way to distinguish permissible repair from impermissible reconstruction: Reconstruction can never be covered by exhaustion or a license to deal with the original product, while repair can. It is a common feature of all the repair cases that not the whole product is repaired or reconstructed, but only part thereof.