John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Kirtsaeng

JOSÉ A. CABRANES, Circuit Judge:

The “first sale doctrine” in copyright law permits the owner of a lawfully purchased copy of a copyrighted work to resell it without limitations imposed by the copy*212right holder.1 The existence of the doctrine dates to 1908, when the Supreme Court held that the owner of a copyright could not impose price controls on sales of copies of a copyrighted work beyond the initial sale.2 Congress codified the doctrine in successive Copyright Acts, beginning with the Copyright Act of 1909.3

The principal question presented in this appeal is whether the first sale doctrine,…