thinbluemime2
2014-11-27 04:53:36 UTC
How an eBay bookseller defeated a publishing giant at the Supreme Court
Doug Kari Nov 25 2014
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/11/how-an-ebay-bookseller-defeat=
ed-a-publishing-giant-at-the-supreme-court/
Sometimes all it takes to alter the course of history is one pissed-off =
=
person. Supap Kirtsaeng wasn=E2=80=99t a crusader or lone nut; he was ju=
st an eBay =
trader who got backed into a legal corner and refused to give up.
To help pay for grad school at USC, he sold textbooks online=E2=80=94leg=
itimate =
copies that he=E2=80=99d purchased overseas. But academic publishing beh=
emoth John =
Wiley & Sons sued Supap, claiming that his trade in Wiley=E2=80=99s fore=
ign-market =
textbooks constituted copyright infringement.
The implications were enormous. If publishers had the right to control =
resale of books that they printed and sold overseas, then it stood to =
reason that manufacturers could restrain trade in countless =
products=E2=80=94especially tech goods, most of which are made in Asia a=
nd contain =
copyrightable elements such as embedded software.
Intent on setting a precedent, Wiley slammed Supap with a $600,000 jury =
=
verdict and all but buried him on appeal. But the grad student hung toug=
h, =
arguing that as lawful owner of the books he had the right to resell the=
m. =
Eventually he convinced the US Supreme Court to grant review.
-------------
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0764558307.html
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Doug Kari Nov 25 2014
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/11/how-an-ebay-bookseller-defeat=
ed-a-publishing-giant-at-the-supreme-court/
Sometimes all it takes to alter the course of history is one pissed-off =
=
person. Supap Kirtsaeng wasn=E2=80=99t a crusader or lone nut; he was ju=
st an eBay =
trader who got backed into a legal corner and refused to give up.
To help pay for grad school at USC, he sold textbooks online=E2=80=94leg=
itimate =
copies that he=E2=80=99d purchased overseas. But academic publishing beh=
emoth John =
Wiley & Sons sued Supap, claiming that his trade in Wiley=E2=80=99s fore=
ign-market =
textbooks constituted copyright infringement.
The implications were enormous. If publishers had the right to control =
resale of books that they printed and sold overseas, then it stood to =
reason that manufacturers could restrain trade in countless =
products=E2=80=94especially tech goods, most of which are made in Asia a=
nd contain =
copyrightable elements such as embedded software.
Intent on setting a precedent, Wiley slammed Supap with a $600,000 jury =
=
verdict and all but buried him on appeal. But the grad student hung toug=
h, =
arguing that as lawful owner of the books he had the right to resell the=
m. =
Eventually he convinced the US Supreme Court to grant review.
-------------
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0764558307.html
-- =
This communication may be unlawfully collected and stored by the Nationa=
l =
Security Agency (NSA) in secret. The parties to this email do not consen=
t =
to the retrieving or storing of this communication and any related =
metadata, as well as printing, copying, re-transmitting, disseminating, =
or =
otherwise using it. If you believe you have received this communication =
in =
error, please delete it immediately.