Exclusive Rights of Patent Owners vs Rights of Chattel Owners: the Implied Licence Approach

Everybody who owns a smartphone is the chattel owner of an artefact embodying patented inventions. The extent to which one may use the smartphone depends on the scope of patent rights and the implied licences granted by the patent owners. Little attention has been given to this in New Zealand. This article seeks to address this gap by exploring patentees’ exclusive rights and implied licences and how these play out domestically and internationally. It examines the convoluted case law that traverses the interface between patent exclusive rights and chattel owner rights. The article focuses on New Zealand, but borrows case law from the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada to fill gaps. It surmises that the current law in New Zealand is complicated and fact-dependent, and relatively pro-patentee as opposed to pro-chattel owner. The article concludes by analysing whether an exhaustion model would be simpler and more balanced than the implied licence approach.