Parallel Imports, The Intraband/Interbrand Competition Paradigm, and the Hidden Gap Between Intellectual Property Law and Antitrust

The exhaustion doctrine, in intellectual property law, restrains firms from restraining competition among different sellers of the same product. Thus, it restrains firms from restraining intraband competition. In U.S. antitrust law, firms have no duty to create or tolerate competition in their own product, and if they impose territorial restraints in the course of distributing their product, those restraints are presumed to be efficient for the firm and efficient or at least neutral for competition and consumers. This Essay argues that there is a gap between the intellectual property law and the antitrust law of vertical (intraband) restraints.