Supreme Court gray market decision upholds "first sale" doctrine.
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
SUPREME COURT GRAY MARKET DECISION UPHOLDS "FIRST SALE" DOCTRINE in favor of U.S. distributor Quality King over L'Anza Research International. In a March 9 unanimous decision, the high court overturned a Pasadena, Calif. federal appeals court judgment that the wholesaler was illegally distributing L'Anza's salon hair care products. "After the first sale of a copyrighted item...any subsequent purchaser, whether from domestic or from a foreign seller, is obviously an `owner' of that item," the court states. "Read literally," the first sale doctrine or Section 109(a) of the Copyright Act of 1976 "unambiguously states that such an owner `is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner to sell' that item," the Supreme Court ruled.