On January 22nd the 2013 State of the Net Conference featured a panel on the First Sale Doctrine. I joined other experts to discuss how a pending Supreme Court case, Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, could dramatically change how the first sale doctrine applies to products made and sold oversees and thus, how copyright industries will sell and license their products abroad in the future. Audio is available for download.
“First sale” allows those who buy (not license) copyrighted goods to resell, donate or otherwise dispose of those goods as they like. Supap Kirtsaeng is accused of violating copyright law by selling international versions of textbooks over the Internet to unwitting US consumers. John Wiley & Sons argues that the first-sale doctrine does not apply to goods manufactured and sold abroad. Nearly 30 interested parties, including SIIA, have filed briefs with the court both for and against Kirtsaeg.
Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.