Exceptions to Trade Mark Exhaustion: Inalienability Rules for the Protection of Reputational Economic Value

摘要

This article analyses the exceptions to the principle of exhaustion of trade mark rights from the perspective of the functions theory and the concept of inalienability rules. Despite its traditional hostility towards the imposition of restrictions to the alienation of chattels, the law often chooses to protect entitlements through inalienability rules with a view to achieving economic efficiency.