Author(s): Jason Schultz
Year: 2012
Abstract:
The
first sale doctrine has long provided that legitimate owners of
non-infringing copies of copyrighted works may use and sell their copies
as they see fit — just as all property owners may generally use and
alienate their property. In keeping with that rationale, the doctrine
traditionally applied to all works made and sold by the copyright holder
or its licensee, regardless of the place of the manufacture or the
first sale of a particular copy. The Second Circuit’s contrary holding —
that 17 U.S.C. § 109(a) categorically bars application of the first
sale doctrine to foreign-made goods — runs contrary to the statutory
context in which § 109(a) appears, the common-law backdrop against which
Congress legislated, and analogous principles of patent law as well.
Keywords:
Link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2102831