Court Ruling Could Make Lending, Selling Books Printed Overseas Illegal

Earlier this month, a U.S. court of appeals ruled against a graduate student importing textbooks from Thailand and selling them online. This ruling may have far-reaching implications for libraries and secondhand book dealers.

There is a law called the First Sale Doctrine. According to the American Association of Law Libraries website, this means that "a person who buys a legally produced copyrighted work may 'sell or otherwise dispose' of the work as he sees fit, subject to some important conditions and exceptions."