First Sale Doctrine

First Sale Doctrine

The first sale doctrine (also called 'exhaustion') holds that once a trademark owner sells a genuine product, the buyer has the right to resell it. This is a powerful defense for Amazon sellers who resell authentic branded goods.

Requirements

To successfully invoke the first sale doctrine:

1. Products must be genuine (not counterfeit)
2. Products must not be materially altered
3. There must be no likelihood of consumer confusion about the source