In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the owner of a legally obtained copy of a copyrighted work that was manufactured abroad can resell the work in the U.S. without permission of the copyright holder (Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).
As explained in an article on Law.com, the case involved a student from Thailand who imported lower-priced books from that country into the U.S. and resold them here. The publisher sued, alleging copyright infringement. The publisher argued that the “first-sale” doctrine does not apply to works produced abroad for sale outside the country. The first-sale doctrine provides that someone who buys a copyrighted product may resell it without permission of the copyright holder. The Court disagreed, holding that the doctrine applies as well to copyrighted products lawfully made abroad.
According to the article, the decision will have broad ramifications for industries that rely on copyright protection, such as book and software publishers. The ruling will require such companies who sell lower-priced products overseas to determine whether they should continue to do so. Copyright owners may also use different strategies to respond to the ruling, such as digitizing more of their content (the case only applies to tangible works).
Other strategies include (1) expanding the use of trademarks, (2) producing goods of different quality overseas, and (3) urging Congress to amend federal law in response to the Supreme Court decision.
