In arguably the most important copyright case of the past decade, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, held that the "first sale" doctrine protects the right to import and sell gray market goods. Gray market goods are copyrighted works that were lawfully made abroad, but imported to the United States without the copyright holder’s authorization.
The case before the court, Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons (No. 11-697, March 19, 2013), involved a mathematics student from Thailand, Supap Kirtsaeng, who moved to the United States to further his education.1 To help fund his education, Kirtsaeng asked his friends and family in Thailand to purchase English-language textbooks from Thai book stores, where they sold at low prices, and send them to Kirtsaeng in the United States so that he could resell them for a substantial profit on eBay. The books in question were printed by John Wiley & Sons’ wholly owned foreign subsidiary, Wiley Asia, for the limited purpose of distribution in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
