Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 67 views

    Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. - 568 U.S. 519, 133 S. Ct. 1351 (2013)

    Uploaded by

    Ro Che
    The Supreme Court ruled that the "first sale" doctrine applies to copies of American copyrighted works manufactured abroad. The case involved a student who had family and friends buy and ship lower-priced foreign edition textbooks to him from abroad. When he resold the textbooks in the US, the publisher sued for copyright infringement. The Supreme Court found that the language of the Copyright Act favors a non-geographical interpretation such that the "first sale" doctrine applies regardless of where the copies were manufactured.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. - 568 U.S. 519, 133 S. Ct. 1351 (2013)

    Uploaded by

    Ro Che
    67 views2 pages
    The Supreme Court ruled that the "first sale" doctrine applies to copies of American copyrighted works manufactured abroad. The case involved a student who had family and friends buy and ship lower-priced foreign edition textbooks to him from abroad. When he resold the textbooks in the US, the publisher sued for copyright infringement. The Supreme Court found that the language of the Copyright Act favors a non-geographical interpretation such that the "first sale" doctrine applies regardless of where the copies were manufactured.

    Original Title

    Kirtsaeng%20vs.%20John%20Wiley-%20Case%20Digest.docx

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The Supreme Court ruled that the "first sale" doctrine applies to copies of American copyrighted works manufactured abroad. The case involved a student who had family and friends buy and ship lower-priced foreign edition textbooks to him from abroad. When he resold the textbooks in the US, the publisher sued for copyright infringement. The Supreme Court found that the language of the Copyright Act favors a non-geographical interpretation such that the "first sale" doctrine applies regardless of where the copies were manufactured.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    67 views2 pages

    Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. - 568 U.S. 519, 133 S. Ct. 1351 (2013)

    Uploaded by

    Ro Che
    The Supreme Court ruled that the "first sale" doctrine applies to copies of American copyrighted works manufactured abroad. The case involved a student who had family and friends buy and ship lower-priced foreign edition textbooks to him from abroad. When he resold the textbooks in the US, the publisher sued for copyright infringement. The Supreme Court found that the language of the Copyright Act favors a non-geographical interpretation such that the "first sale" doctrine applies regardless of where the copies were manufactured.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

    - 568
    U.S. 519, 133 S. Ct. 1351 (2013)
    RULE:

    Section 106 of the Copyright Act grants the owner of copyright under the Copyright Act
    certain “exclusive rights,” including the right to distribute copies of the copyrighted work
    to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership. 17 U.S.C.S. § 106(3). These rights
    are qualified, however, by the application of various limitations set forth in the next
    several sections of the Act, 17 U.S.C.S. §§ 107-122. Those sections, typically entitled
    “Limitations on exclusive rights,” include, for example, the principle of “fair use” (§ 107),
    permission for limited library archival reproduction, (17 U.S.C.S. § 108), and the “first
    sale” doctrine (17 U.S.C.S. § 109).

    FACTS:

    Respondent, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., an academic textbook publisher, often assigned to
    its wholly owned foreign subsidiary (Wiley Asia) rights to publish, print, and sell foreign
    editions of Wiley's English language textbooks abroad. Wiley Asia's books state that they
    are not to be taken (without permission) into the United States. When petitioner
    Kirtsaeng moved from Thailand to the United States to study mathematics, he asked
    friends and family to buy foreign edition English-language textbooks in Thai bookshops,
    where they sold at low prices, and to mail them to him in the United States. He then sold
    the books, reimbursed his family and friends, and kept the profit.

    Wiley filed suit against Kirtsaeng, claiming that Kirtsaeng's unauthorized importation and
    resale of its books was an infringement of Wiley's exclusive right to distribute and import
    prohibition. Kirtsaeng replied that because his books were “lawfully made” and acquired
    legitimately, the “first sale” doctrine permitted importation and resale without Wiley's
    further permission. The District Court held that Kirtsaeng could not assert this defense
    because the doctrine does not apply to goods manufactured abroad. The jury then found
    that Kirtsaeng had willfully infringed Wiley's American copyrights and assessed damages.
    The Second Circuit affirmed, concluding that the “first sale” doctrine does not apply to
    copies of American copyrighted works manufactured abroad.

    ISSUE:
    Does the “first sale” doctrine apply to copies of American copyrighted works
    manufactured abroad?

    ANSWER:

    Yes

    CONCLUSION:

    The language of § 109(a) read literally favored a nongeographical interpretation, that


    “lawfully made under this title” meant made “in accordance with” or “in compliance with”
    the Copyright Act. Section 109(a) said nothing about geography. 17 U.S.C.S. § 104 said
    that works “subject to protection under this title” included unpublished works “without
    regard to the nationality or domicile of the author,” and works “first published” in any
    nation that had signed a copyright treaty with the U.S. Copyright-related consequences,
    along with language, context, and interpretive canons argued strongly against a
    geographical interpretation of § 109(a). History reiterated the importance of the “first
    sale” doctrine. The “first sale” doctrine applied to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully
    made abroad.

    Considering that the Second Circuit's finding that the first sale doctrine did not apply
    was reversed, and the case was remanded for further proceedings.

    You might also like