The doctrine of repair and reconstruction in United States patent law

United States patent law

United States patent law was established "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" as provided by the United States Constitution. Congress implemented these...

 distinguishes between permissible repair of a patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

ed article, which the right of an owner of property to preserve its utility and operability guarantees, and impermissible reconstruction of a patented article, which is patent infringement

Patent infringement

Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or...

. The doctrine is explained in Aro Mfg. Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co.

Aro Mfg. Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co.

Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co., , is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court redefined the U.S. patent law doctrine of repair and reconstruction...

The Aro case states the rule in these terms:

The decisions of this Court require the conclusion that reconstruction of a patented entity, unpatented elements, is limited to such a true reconstruction of the entity as to "in fact make a new article," after the entity, viewed as a whole, has become spent. In order to call the monopoly, conferred by the patent grant, into play for a second time, it must, indeed, be a second creation of the patented entity. …Mere replacement of individual unpatented parts, one at a time, whether of the same part repeatedly or different parts successively, is no more than the lawful right of the owner to repair his property.