Supreme Court To Decide Whether Or Not You Own What You Own

Jafafa Hots writes "The Supreme Court is set to decide, in the case of Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, whether or not First Sale Doctrine applies to products made with parts sourced from outside the United States. If the Supreme Court upholds an appellate ruling, it would mean that the IP holders of anything you own that has been made in China, Japan or Europe, for example, would have to give you permission to sell it. Your old used CDs, cell phone, books, or that Ford truck with foreign parts? It may not be yours to sell unless you get explicit permission and presumably pay royalties. 'It would be absurd to say anything manufactured abroad can't be bought or sold here,' said Marvin Ammori, a First Amendment lawyer and Schwartz Fellow at the New American Foundation who specializes in technology issues."

Comments

Let them do it.

[Anonymous Coward]

It will provide a huge boost to US manufacturing jobs!

Re:Let them do it.

[viperidaenz]

Are you implying the judges can't be sold without foreign permission?

Re:Might be incentive to buy American?

[EasyTarget]

So the the best example of something wholly made 'made in America' is a weapon.
Well done.

Re:Looks like an end-run around illegal importing

[SvetBeard]

Have you priced textbooks lately? $1.2 million is only 5 or 6 books.

Re:Hope we have a proper treaty with the Goblins.

[JaredOfEuropa]

I hope you have a license to reproduce this excerpt; Rowling takes her IP very seriously. And it's "foreign made" to boot...