IP at the Supreme Court Series: Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons
March 21, 2013
5:45pm | Room 602
Reception to Follow
Supap Kirtsaeng helped to finance his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Southern California by having friends and family send him textbooks they purchased in Thailand for resale in the United States through eBay. Although these books were lawfully purchased in Thailand, Kirtsaeng was sued by John Wiley & Sons for copyright infringement.
In this case, the Supreme Court revisits the relationship between the Copyright Act’s limits on importation of a copyrighted work without the copyright owner’s permission and the first sale doctrine, which permits resale of copies of a work without permission. The Court divided evenly over this issue in a 2010 case pitting Costco against Omega.
On March 19, 2013, the Supreme Court held that “the ‘first sale’ doctrine applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad.”
Arguments were heard in October 2012. This spring, PIJIP is pleased to welcome Counsel of Record for Petitioner along with Counsel for amici, to discuss the case, the oral argument, and the implications of the case going forward.
Panel:
Peter Jaszi
Washington College of Law, Moderator
Eleonora Zlotnikova
Sam P. Israel P.C., Counsel for Petitioner
Allan Adler
Association of American Publishers
Ariel Lavinbuk
Robbins Russell, Counsel for amicus Costco, Inc., in support of Petitioner
Aaron Panner
Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, PLLC Counsel for amicus Omega, in support of Respondent
Brandon Butler
Association of Research Libraries
Jonathan Band
Policybandwidth
Updates:
Decision: March 19, 2013
Argument: Transcript; Audio