Brief analysis of the institute of exhaustion of rights: the case of medicines

Abstract

This article aims to present some brief clarifications around the exhaustion of intellectual property rights, especially when the object of exhaustion are patented pharmaceutical products, as well as intends to demonstrate the importance of the exhaustion principle to the market equilibrium. The study of the peculiarities inherent to the exhaustion of intellectual property rights is essential to the visualization and selection of the system that best satisfies the general interests and the possibility (or not) of parallel imports of goods protected by such intellectual property rights.