A more thorough explanation:

The exhaustion-of-rights doctrine is a principle in international law that states that once the owner of an intellectual property right has sold a product covered by that right, they lose the right to control how the product is resold within that internal market. This principle also applies to the import and export of goods between member nations in a common market, such as the European Union.

For example, if a company holds a patent for a particular product and sells it to a distributor, the company cannot control how the distributor resells the product within the same market. If the distributor decides to sell the product at a lower price or in a different way, the company cannot stop them from doing so.

Another example is if a person buys a book from a bookstore, the author of the book cannot control how the person resells the book to someone else. Once the book is sold, the author loses the right to control its resale within the same market.

These examples illustrate how the exhaustion-of-rights doctrine works in practice. It allows for a free flow of goods within a market and promotes competition, which benefits consumers.