US Supreme Court ruled in favor of student selling textbooks on eBay
About the claim of the publishing company John Wiley & Sons, Inc. against a student from Thailand named Supap Kirtsaeng who auctioned eBay literature published abroad and why this business is so important for the entire e-commerce industry has already been written on Habré . In a nutshell: manufacturers often sell their goods at different prices in different countries, depending on the solvency of the population and the competitive situation on the market. The price difference can be very tangible . Thanks to this, it became possible to gain popularity through the scheme of earnings through online auctions, when a foreign citizen buys goods in his country at a low price, and then resells them in the US (or another overpriced country) at a high price.
In September 2008, the publishing house John Wiley & Sons filed a lawsuit in the amount of $ 600,000 against the above-mentioned student, accusing him of violating his copyright. Supap Kirtsaeng absolutely legally bought books in Thailand and sold them in the United States at an online auction. The court of first instance decided in favor of the publisher, the student filed an appeal, and in the end the case reached the US Supreme Court. Today, March 19, the final verdict on this case. It is important because it creates a precedent on which the global market for online auctions depends. The “first sale rule”, which restricts the rights of the producer and copyright holder after the first sale of a copy of the work and allows the bona fide purchaser to do whatever he wants with the purchased product, conflicts with the interests of the publishers.
With a majority of three votes, the US Supreme Court confirmed the firmness of the “first sale rule” and refused to satisfy the claims of John Wiley & Sons. This is a big plus for the Internet community and a minus for producers who inflate prices for their goods in some countries. On the Internet, the concept of a state border is very vague, and there is no opportunity to make a profit from artificial restrictions. If the court sided with the publisher, this would create huge obstacles for e-commerce. Fortunately, this time common sense won.
In September 2008, the publishing house John Wiley & Sons filed a lawsuit in the amount of $ 600,000 against the above-mentioned student, accusing him of violating his copyright. Supap Kirtsaeng absolutely legally bought books in Thailand and sold them in the United States at an online auction. The court of first instance decided in favor of the publisher, the student filed an appeal, and in the end the case reached the US Supreme Court. Today, March 19, the final verdict on this case. It is important because it creates a precedent on which the global market for online auctions depends. The “first sale rule”, which restricts the rights of the producer and copyright holder after the first sale of a copy of the work and allows the bona fide purchaser to do whatever he wants with the purchased product, conflicts with the interests of the publishers.
With a majority of three votes, the US Supreme Court confirmed the firmness of the “first sale rule” and refused to satisfy the claims of John Wiley & Sons. This is a big plus for the Internet community and a minus for producers who inflate prices for their goods in some countries. On the Internet, the concept of a state border is very vague, and there is no opportunity to make a profit from artificial restrictions. If the court sided with the publisher, this would create huge obstacles for e-commerce. Fortunately, this time common sense won.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/173499/
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