Intellectual Property Law

Chapter 16 Case Study Answers

Case Study: When Kim, one of the Fit Forever instructors, was vacationing in Europe,
she purchased several books on fitness. The books were printed abroad. Fit Forever
would now like to sell these books to its customers.

Activities: Discuss whether Fit Forever is entitled to sell these books without the
permission of the copyright owners in the books.

Under the U.S. Supreme Court case Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 133
S. Ct. 1351 (2012), any copyright distribution rights that the copyright
owners might have had expired after the authorized first sale of the books to
Kim. Kirtsaeng established that the first sale doctrine applies to copies of
copyrighted works lawfully made abroad. Thus, the purchaser of a genuine
copyrighted work manufactured outside the United States can bring the
work into the United States to sell or give away without obtaining permission
from the copyright owner. In fact, the Kirtsaeng case specifically posed the
following two questions and then answered them in the affirmative:

(1) “Can that buyer bring that copy into the United States (and sell it or give
it away) without obtaining permission to do so from the copyright
owner?” Yes.

(2) “Can, for example, someone who purchases, say at a used bookstore, a
book printed abroad subsequently resell it without the copyright owner’s
permission?” Yes.