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No, we didn't write this article because we were tired of working on the topic. Rather, "Exhaustion in Canadian Intellectual Property Law," (2009) Canadian Intellectual Property Review 3-31, addresses the legal rules of "exhausion," sometimes called "first sale" in respect of the protection of intellectual property in Canada.

This article looks at the laws of different jurisdictions to demonstrate the common threads underlying the legal doctrine of exhaustion of intellectual property rights. In Canada, the applicability of the exhaustion doctrine to copyrights, trade-marks, and patents seemed clear. But one recent Supreme Court of Canada judgment casts doubt on the nature of exhaustion in respect of biotechnology patents. This article identifies the case of Monsanto v. Schmeiser as an outlier in Canadian intellectual property law. We propose various hypotheses that might justify the Supreme Court’s distinct attitude toward the principle of exhaustion in Canadian patent law. None withstands the scrutiny of investigation. As such, we conclude that it is likely and appropriate that the Supreme Court of Canada will continue to use the concept of exhaustion in future cases.