Monday, 29 October 2012

US Supreme Court to look at NSA spying, resale of products

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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