SCOTUS ruling about used textbooks

[Lady Florida.]

The Supreme Court just ruled in favor of the young man who was selling textbooks he got from other countries. They said First Sale Doctrine applies. I know we had a discussion back when this first came up.

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/supreme-court-backs-student-dispute-over-used-textbook-sales-1C8932489

[nmoira]

Thank goodness!

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I wonder if this has any effect on digital ebook and such?

[Lady Florida.]

I wonder if this has any effect on digital ebook and such?

 

So far, no. This is just about someone buying cheaper textbooks from overseas and reselling them in the U.S. The e-book industry is still figuring out what's going to happen. They are probably where the e-music industry was 5-7 years ago.

[nmoira]

I wonder if this has any effect on digital ebook and such?

 

I don't think so, because you license those rather than own them. That's another can of worms. However, reselling physical books meant for other regions could have been affected... like the UK editions of Harry Potter. The implications of a different ruling would have been massive.

[Jane in NC]

Thanks for the link. Interesting to see how the justices aligned themselves on this one.

[Mrs Mungo]

Quote from another source:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a dissent joined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and partly joined by Justice Antonin Scalia. Ginsburg argued that the majority opinion is at odds with Congress’ aim to protect copyright owners against the unauthorized importation of low-priced, foreign-­made copies of their copyrighted works.

 

In this case, the companies are producing *their own* cheaper versions for the overseas market, yes? These were not knock-offs? I don't understand how this quote therefore applies.