Business Law

Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Nnamdi Anyalebechi, Rajanish Babu, Roberto Lewis

LAW/531

November 17, 2014

Cornelius Perry

Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Issue

1. Does Supap Kirtsaeng have the legal right to resell books published internationally by John Wiley & Sons (copyright holder) in the United States on EBay for profit?

Rules

1. Sale of physical duplicates of copyrighted material internationally with the absence of consent of the copyright titleholder is legal if the buyer purchases the initial copy from the copyright owner. The buyer can then resale the copyright material domestically without infringing on the original owner’s rights (The Stanford Law Review, 2013).

2. The first-sale doctrine law states that a copyright owner’s right to he or she’s copyright work is a cancellation after initial sale of a copy by the owner. The copyright owner of the work after initial sale does not have rights to regulate resale or exhibition of the copy.  (The Stanford Law Review, 2013).

Analysis

In this case the John Wiley & Sons cannot question the legal rights of Mr.Kirtsaeng to resell the books in the United States on Ebay. Mr. Kritsaeng is selling the copies he bought internationally from the copyright owner and bringing it to United States to sell it domestically. The rule says the buyer could resale the copy right material domestically with-out infringing on the original owners right. The first- sale of doctrine restrict the copyright owner’s rights to regulate the resale of exhibition of the copy. In this case John Willey & Sons need to make necessary steps to restrict bringing back the international copies to United States, once it reached in United States soil legally they cannot restrict the buyer reselling the book.

Reference

The Stanford Law Review. (2013). Kirtsaeng and the First-Sale Doctrine Problem. Retrieved

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