The Supreme Court decided on Monday, April 16, to hear a case about a Cornell student from Thailand who thought he could finance his education (and more) by reselling to U.S. students textbooks that he bought in Thailand. What could be wrong with that?
The first sale doctrine in copyright law allows purchasers of any copyrighted work to resell or use the particular copy in many ways without the copyright holder’s permission.
It is codified in section 109(a) of the Copyright Act, stating “the owner of a particular copy…lawfully made under this title…is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy.”
It is because of the first sale doctrine that entities such as libraries, used books and video game stores, and sellers on eBay are allowed to lend, sell or lease the books and games they have purchased.
With the Cornell Student from Thailand, the Supreme Court has taken the opportunity to clarify the applicability of the first sale doctrine to copyrighted goods manufactured in a foreign country.
The justices have decided to review Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., involving textbook maker John Wiley & Sons and Thai national Supap Kirtsaeng, who was studying at Cornell University at the time he resold the textbooks.
Supap had his family send him copies of Wiley textbooks purchased abroad, and then resold them on eBay at a profit, without the publisher’s consent, sometimes called “gray marketing”. Because the evidence shows Supap profiting $900,000 to $1.2 million in sales, it is likely that he was running a business on this model.