Supreme Court takes a second look at patent exhaustion, but is it déjà vu again?

In its much-anticipated decision in Quanta Computer, Inc v LG Electronics, Inc (128 S Ct 2109 (2008)), the US Supreme Court – addressing the patent exhaustion doctrine after a 60-year hiatus – repeated its earlier Univis rule that “the initial authorized sale of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item”.