In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Thai student who was being sued by a book publisher.  The University of Southern California student was being sued by publisher John Wiley & Sons for purchasing inexpensive foreign-edition textbooks and reselling them to U.S. students on eBay.  The publisher claimed that the student was infringing on copyrights on textbooks and the Asian versions of the books he purchased were marked with warnings that the books were intended for sale only in certain foreign regions.

The U.S. law has long held that once a company sells a copyrighted product, the purchaser has the right to resell the product later. The Supreme Court agreed with this doctrine, also known as the “first sale” doctrine, even if the product was originally purchased abroad.

Retailers who sell foreign-made goods procured through unofficial distribution channels were excited over the Supreme Court decision.  Both eBay and Google supported the student, arguing that if the publisher had won, it would have led to higher prices and uncertain legal liability for anyone purchasing foreign-made items.

Discussion Questions:

What is the legal issue found in Chapter 13 that is related to the Supreme Court ruling described in this article?

 

SOURCE: Bret Kendell, Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2013