The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in two cases with potentially broad implications to technology users, one reviewing whether consumers can resell copyright-protected products they have purchased and the second challenging an electronic surveillance program at the U.S. National Security Agency.
In one case, Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, the court will hear a challenge to the long-established first-sale doctrine, which allows consumers to resell products protected by copyright without the copyright owner?s permission. The case, examining whether products manufactured overseas are protected by the first-sale doctrine, could have a huge impact on eBay, Craigslist, libraries and ordinary U.S. residents who try to resell a wide range of products made overseas, including CDs, DVDs and books, critics say.
The court battle involves a Thai student who imported textbooks into the U.S. from his homeland and sold them on eBay in competition with the publisher.
A lower court ordered Supap Kirtsaengto, who attended graduate school in the U.S., to pay John Wiley & Sons Inc. US$600,000 for importing the publisher?s textbooks, available for a lower cost in Thailand.
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