First Sale and Section 117

Scope

 * Use this page to list sources related to questions about copyright's first sale doctrine, patent's exhaustion doctrine, and section 117 essential step copies and adaptations.

News / Editorial

 * Corynne McSherry, A Mixed Ninth Circuit Ruling in MDY v. Blizzard: WoW Buyers Are Not Owners – But Glider Users Are Not Copyright Infringers, Electronic Frontier Foundation (Dec 15, 2010).
 * Pamela Jones, How Many Words is Fair Use? Maybe More Than You and AP Thought: Let's Look at a Righthaven Case, Groklaw (Sep. 22, 2010).
 * Joe Mullin, When Is a Sale Not a Sale? When Software Changes Hands, Corporate Counsel (Sep. 16, 2010).
 * Mark Mathentis, LGJ: Are game resales at risk?, Joystiq (Sep. 15, 2010).
 * David Kravets, Guess What, You Don’t Own That Software You Bought, Wired (Sept. 10, 2010).
 * Lauren Hirsch, Apple, Psystar reach partial settlement, The Unofficial Apple Weblog (Dec. 1, 2009).
 * Pamela Jones, Apple Wins Like a Champ - Psystar is Toast -- What? You're Surprised?, Groklaw (Nov. 14th, 2009).
 * Pamela Jones, Apple and Psystar respond to the other's summary judgment motion and fight about sealing documents, Groklaw (Oct. 26, 2009).
 * Lauren Hirsch, Psystar, Apple file motions for summary judgment, The Unofficial Apple Weblog (Oct. 14, 2009).
 * Nate Anderson, AutoCAD resale ruling a messy win for first-sale doctrine, Ars Technica (Oct. 7, 2009).
 * Nancy Gohring, Autodesk, eBay seller suit could impact sales of secondhand software, Computer World UK* Sep. 30, 2009).
 * Ed White, Eminem's music publisher takes Apple to court, SiliconValley.com (Sep. 22, 2009).
 * Miguel Helft, Amazon.com Offers to Replace Copies of Orwell Book, New York Times (Sep. 4, 2009).
 * AP, Redbox sues Warner Home Video over DVD rentals, SiliconValley.com (Aug. 19, 2009).
 * Jacqui Cheng, Redbox sues Fox, vows to keep DVDs at popular kiosks, Ars Technica (Aug. 13, 2009).
 * Jacqui Cheng, Fox joins Universal's war on Redbox DVD rental kiosks, Ars Technica (Aug. 6, 2009).
 * Ken Fisher, Why Amazon went Big Brother on some Kindle e-books, Ars Technica (Jul. 17, 2009).

Legal Briefs / Opinions / Statutes

 * Brief of Amici Curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, and Association of College and Research Libraries, Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., No. 09-35969 (9th Cir. Oct. 12, 2010).
 * Vernor v. Autodesk Inc., No. 09-35969 (9th Cir. 2010).
 * Apple, Inc. v. Psystar, No C 08-03251 (N.D. Cal. 2009). (Psystar violated Apple's copyrights by commercially distributing 'hacked' Macintosh computers.)
 * Vernor v. AutoDesk, Inc., No. C07-1189RAJ (W.D. Wash. 2009). (Despite a license agreement, the purchase of software resembling a sale--such as a non-recurring price--may in fact be considered a "sale with restrictions on [its] use.")
 * Brief of Amici Curiae Public Knowledge in MDY Indus. LLC v. Blizzard Ent., Inc., No. 09-15932 (9th Cir. Sep. 23, 2009).
 * Beltronics USA Inc. v. Midwest Inventory Distrib. LLC, 562 F.3d 1067 (10th Cir. 2009).
 * Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc., 553 U.S. 617 (Supreme Court 2008)
 * Wall Data Inc. v. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept., 447 F.3d 769 (9th Cir. 2006). (Making extra copies in networked context is not a fair use, even when only limited number are used simultaneously. Restrictive licenses can supersede sect. 117 rights.)
 * Storage Tech. Corp. v. Custom Hardware Eng'g, 421 F.3d 1307 (Fed. Cir. 2005). (Sect. 117 rights to be construed broadly, with an eye to overall purpose of copying.)
 * Krause v. Titleserv, Inc., 402 F.3d 119 (2d Cir. 2005).
 * Madison River Mgmt. Co. v. Business Mgmt. Software Corp., 387 F. Supp. 2d 521 (M.D.N.C. 2005).
 * Logicom Inclusive, Inc. v. W.P.Stewart & Co., No. 04-0604, 2004 WL 1781009 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2004).
 * PracticeWorks, Inc. v. Prof'l Software Solutions of Illinois, Inc., Nos. 02-1205 & 02-1206, 2004 WL 1429955 (Jun. 23, 2004).
 * DSC Commc'ns Corp. v. Pulse Commc'ns Inc., 170 F.3d 1354 (Fed. Cir. 1999).
 * Microsoft Corp. v. DAK Indus., Inc., 66 F.3d 1091 (9th Cir. 1995). (In bankruptcy context, "economic realities" determine if a transaction is a sale, not the label used by the participants.)
 * Aymes v. Bonelli, 47 F.3d 23 (2d Cir. 1995).
 * Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd., 847 F.2d 255 (5th Cir. 1988).
 * United States v. Wise, 550 F.2d 1180 (9th Cir. 1977).

Scholarship

 * Brian W. Carver, Why License Agreements Do Not Control Copy Ownership: First Sales and Essential Copies, Berkeley Tech. L.J. (forthcoming).
 * Maureen Steimer, Restoring the Balance: Bringing Back Consumer Rights in UMG Recordings v. Augusto by Reaffirming the First Sale Doctrine in Copyright Law, 16 Villanova Sports & Ent'mt L. J. 313 (2009).
 * Glen O. Robinson Personal Property Servitudes, University of Virginia School of Law, 2003 Law and Economics Research Paper 03-9 (An extensive discussion of first sale and first sale-like rights).