The doctrine of non-derogation from grants is a principle of the

law of England and Wales English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, been ...

. As the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

explained in ''

British Leyland Motor Corp. v. Armstrong Patents Co. ''British Leyland Motor Corp. v Armstrong Patents Co.'' is a 1986 decision of the House of Lords concerning the doctrine of non-derogation from grants. This doctrine is comparable to, but somewhat broader than, the doctrine of legal estoppel, as ...

'', it states that a seller of

realty In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...

or goods is not permitted to take any action (such as bringing an infringement action) that will lessen the value to the buyer of the thing sold.

United States federal law The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as va ...

recognises similar doctrines such as the

exhaustion doctrine The exhaustion of intellectual property rights constitutes one of the limits of intellectual property (IP) rights. Once a given product has been sold under the authorization of the IP owner, the reselling, rental, lending and other third party comme ...

or doctrine of

implied license An implied license is an unwritten license which permits a party (the licensee) to do something that would normally require the express permission of another party (the licensor). Implied licenses may arise by operation of law from actions by th ...

. A similar effect has also been realised in

United States patent law Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...

under the doctrine of repair and reconstruction.See ''

Aro Mfg. Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co. ''Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co.'', 365 U.S. 336 (1961), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court redefined the U.S. patent law doctrine of repair and reconstruction. The decision is sometimes referred to a ...

'', 365 U.S. 336 (1961). An important difference between the doctrine of non-derogation from grants and other doctrines, particularly implied license, that are used to accomplish similar results is that the doctrine of non-derogation from grants is "inherent" as a matter of property law and apparently cannot be avoided by a seller's use of language attempting to negative application of the doctrine or by trial counsel's pointing to evidence of intent not to relinquish patent rights or copyright. In contrast, the other doctrines may be vulnerable to contractual disclaimers or evidence of intent not to grant intellectual property rights. The issue is discussed to some extent in the courts' opinions in ''British Leyland'' and '' Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc.''

References

{{reflist

References

See also