infoJustice

Today at 6pm, American University’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property hosted a discussion of this week’s ruling in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley, in which the Supreme Court held that “the ‘first sale’ doctrine applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad.”

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Supap Kirtsaeng helped to finance his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Southern California by having friends and family send him textbooks they purchased in Thailand for resale in the United States through eBay.  Although these books were lawfully purchased in Thailand, Kirtsaeng was sued by John Wiley & Sons for copyright infringement.

In this case, the Supreme Court revisits the relationship between the Copyright Act’s limits on importation of a copyrighted work without the copyright owner’s permission and the first sale doctrine, which permits resale of copies of a work without permission.  The Court divided evenly over this issue in a 2010 case pitting Costco against Omega.

On March 19, 2013, the Supreme Court held that “the ‘first sale’ doctrine applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad.”

Arguments were heard in October 2012. This spring,  PIJIP is pleased to welcome Counsel of Record for Petitioner along with Counsel for amici, to discuss the case, the oral argument, and the implications of the case going forward.

Panel

	Peter Jaszi Washington College of Law, Moderator
	Eleonora Zlotnikova Sam P. Israel P.C., Counsel for Petitioner
	Allan Adler  Association of American Publishers
	Ariel Lavinbuk Robbins Russell, Counsel for amicus Costco, Inc., in support of Petitioner
	Aaron Panner Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, PLLC Counsel for amicus Omega, in support of Respondent
	Brandon Butler Association of Research Libraries

Jonathan Band Policybandwidth

Opinion

Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons

Briefs

• Brief for Petitioner
• Brief for Respondent