John Wiley & Sons Case: Limits on the First Sale Doctrine in US Copyright Law

摘要

For the second time in the past two years, the United States Supreme Court is set to hear a case pitting the US copyright law's restriction on unauthorised importations and the interests of brand owners, on the one hand, against US copyright law's first sale doctrine and re-sellers of genuine goods, on the other. The court's first decision did not resolve the uncertainty, leaving considerable questions in the realm of importation of what have been called "gray market goods ", or those which were manufactured outside the United States. This article reviews the basis for the first sale doctrine and its development in copyright law, as well as describing in detail the current controversy, setting the stage for the upcoming argument before the Supreme Court.