If you buy a book, can you re-sell It? Kirtsaeng v. Wiley & Sons

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley & Sons will impact the right to resell copyrighted goods and the pricing policies of copyright owners.

A copyright owner has the exclusive right to distribute copies. The “first sale doctrine” of the Copyright Act allows the “owner” of “a particular copy” to resell that individual copy. Software is licensed not sold, and usually the licensee does not own and can not resell the licensed copy. But books are sold, not licensed, at least in print media.