Student Charged For Re-selling Textbooks

AstroPhilosopher writes "The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal from a Thai student who was fined $600,000 for re-selling textbooks. Trying to make ends meet, the student had family members in Thailand mail him textbooks that were made and purchased abroad, which he then resold in the U.S. It's a method many retailers practice every day. 'Discount sellers like Costco and Target and Internet giants eBay and Amazon help form an estimated $63 billion annual market for goods that are purchased abroad, then imported and resold without the permission of the manufacturer. The U.S.-based sellers, and consumers, benefit from the common practice of manufacturers to price items more cheaply abroad than in the United States. This phenomenon is sometimes called a parallel market or grey market.'"

Comments

Re:I Don't See the Parallelism Here ...

[Sarten-X]

Is it his responsibility to know that it is illegal? And more to the point, by which basis are they illegal?

Yes, it is. When you change jurisdictions, it is your responsibility to learn the laws and customs of where you're going. The "I'm a ca-ra-zy foreigner!" excuse only gets you so far. Anytime you do anything new, especially something like starting what's effectively a get-rich-quick import business, you should see what laws could affect you.

Unrelatedly, I have a steak knife in my kitchen, and a sewing kit in my living room. I'll take care of that appendectomy you need for only $500... Think what you'll save over the hospital bills!