The doctrine of exhaustion or the first sale rule affirms the exhaustion of an asset's intellectual property rights vested with its owner after its first use or sale. As a result, no further control can be exercised by the owner vis-à-vis distribution or resale of the product. Applying the principle more specifically to the realm of copyrights, it allows the purchaser to sell or give away a legally made copy of a copyrighted work without permission once it has been obtained. The copyright holder's right to control any further change in ownership of a particular copy ends once that copy is sold, as long as no additional copies are made. Thus, the rule of exhaustion has the power to interfere with the copyright owner's exclusive market position, reducing any leeway for price differentiation and exposing the product to intensified price competition.
