Impression Products, Inc., Petitioner v. Lexmark International, Inc.

Summary

The Court held that a patentee’s decision to sell a product exhausts all patent rights in that item, regardless of any post-sale restrictions on domestic use or the location of the sale. Consequently, Lexmark could not sue for patent infringement against purchasers of domestic Return Program cartridges or imported foreign-sold cartridges. Justice Ginsburg concurred in the domestic exhaustion holding but dissented on international exhaustion, arguing U.S. patent rights do not expire due to foreign sales.