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Intellectual property law is increasingly used to implement the business strategies of enterprises. If manufacturers of original products can monopolize the market in spare parts or prohibit recycling of their products by invoking their patent rights, they can devise a strategy that involves selling patented original products at a relatively low profit margin in order to profit by selling spare parts for these products. Patent law needs to establish general principles governing maintenance, replacement and recycling. Tracing back the history of the exhaustion doctrine, this study aims to highlight the current problems and to seek desirable solutions.

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1;Preface;4
2;Table of Contents;6
3;Chapter 1. Introduction;10
3.1;1.1 Interested Parties in the Aftermarket and Patent Exhaustion Doctrine;10
3.2;1.2 Status Quo in Germany, the U.S., and Japan;11
3.3;1.3 Overview of this Research;13
4;Chapter 2. Patentees´ Rights and Purchasers´ Rights: the Exhaustion Doctrine;15
5;Chapter 3. Cases of Maintenance, Replacement and Recycling: Scope of Allowed Activities in the Aftermarket;66
5.1;3.1 Introduction;66
5.2;3.2 Germany;67
5.2.1;3.2.1 Maintenance;67
5.2.2;3.2.2 Replacement of Parts;68
5.2.3;3.2.3 Recycling;77
5.2.4;3.2.4 Characteristics of Rulings;79
5.3;3.3 The U.S.;81
5.3.1;3.3.1 Maintenance;81
5.3.2;3.3.2 Replacement of Parts;82
5.3.3;3.3.3 Recycling;92
5.3.4;3.3.4 Characteristics of Rulings;97
5.4;3.4 Japan;99
5.4.1;3.4.1 Maintenance;99
5.4.2;3.4.2 Replacement of Parts in Japan;100
5.4.3;3.4.3 Recycling;101
5.5;3.5 Summary and Thoughts;113
5.5.1;3.5.1 Comparative Summary;113
5.5.2;3.5.2 Doubts About Known "repair / reconstruction" and "identity" Criteria;114
5.5.3;3.5.3 A Possible Guideline: "transfer of full value" Based on the Patent Law´s Aim;116
6;Chapter 4. Patent Enforcement and Contract / Competition Law;118
6.1;4.1 Introduction;118
6.2;4.2 What is a Patent Right?;118
6.3;4.3 Could the Domestic Exhaustion Doctrine Be Contracted Out?;119
6.3.1;4.3.1 The U.S. Cases on "single use only" Agreements;120
6.3.2;4.3.2 Germany;130
6.3.3;4.3.3 Japan;131
6.3.4;4.3.4 Summary - Who Should Decide the Scope of "Reward"?;132
6.4;4.4 IPR Enforcement in the Aftermarket;134
6.4.1;4.4.1 "Repair Clause" in EU Design Law;135
6.4.2;4.4.2 The U.S.;139
6.4.3;4.4.3 Japan;141
6.4.4;4.4.4 Summary;142
7;Chapter 5. Conclusion: The Scope of the " Full Value" that the Patent Regime Plans to Grant;144
7.1;5.1 Summary of Findings;144
7.2;5.2 Thoughts About the Road Ahead;147
8;Zusammenfassung;150
9;Appendix;157
9.1;A. Tables of Laws;157
9.2;B. Table of Cases;157
9.3;C. Bibliography;163

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Mineko Mohri is a Japanese attorney-at-law also admitted in the New York State. She has been working extensively in the field of intellectual property practice, education, and research since 2001. She learned her LL.B. from Keio University (Tokyo), LL.M. from Stanford Law School (California), and Dr. jur. from Ludwig-Maximilians-University (Munich).

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