In the case of United States v. S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Company, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in 1926 that a patent holder could not extend their control over a product after it had been sold once, regardless of any restrictions they tried to impose on its use or resale. The court held that such attempts were an unlawful extension of the monopoly granted by a patent and violated antitrust laws. This principle is known as "patent exhaustion" or "first sale doctrine". In this particular case, S.S White Dental Manufacturing Company was found guilty for trying to control prices at which its patented dental equipment could be resold by dentists who initially bought them.

In the dissenting opinion for United States v. S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Company, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a lower court ruling against the defendant on antitrust grounds was incorrect. The dissenting justices believed that there wasn't sufficient evidence presented in this case to prove that the company had engaged in monopolistic practices or attempted to restrain trade unlawfully within their industry. They contended that simply being successful and gaining a large market share does not automatically constitute an illegal monopoly under U.S law, as long as no unfair or predatory business tactics are used to achieve such dominance. Furthermore, they pointed out inconsistencies and errors in how certain key facts were interpreted by both lower courts and their fellow Supreme Court Justices which led them to conclude differently about whether any violations of Sherman Antitrust Act occurred here.