The US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision (.pdf; 365KB), has upheld the first-sale doctrine of US copyright law by ruling that individuals who purchase foreign copyrighted works may resell them without the permission of the copyright holder.
While the first-sale doctrine for domestic works within the US was not open to question, lower court decisions regarding the issue of reselling foreign works had widely conflicted. Publisher John Wiley & Sons had sued Supap Kirtsaeng who was selling textbooks purchased overseas on eBay. The Obama administration had petitioned the Supreme Court in favor of Wiley. While the administration’s underlying position was correct — US copyright does not (and should not) apply outside of the country — it’s application on the first-sale doctrine was incorrect. The textbooks had been imported by Kirtsaeng and sold within US borders.
The lower courts had based their findings on a section of the Copyright Act that restricts the first-sale doctrine to works “lawfully made under this title,” reasoning that it was impossible for a foreign work to have been made under US law. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the majority, argued the point was not geographic: “We also doubt that Congress would have intended to create the practical copyright-related harms with which a geographical interpretation would threaten ordinary scholarly, artistic, commercial, and consumer activities.”
Publishers and various members of the US entertainment cartel bemoaned the decision, saying that it would prevent them from selling works at discounted rates in developing countries.