Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Intellectual Property Law

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Journal

First sale doctrine

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law

Fighting The First Sale Doctrine: Strategies For A Struggling Film Industry, Sage Vanden Heuvel Jan 2012

Fighting The First Sale Doctrine: Strategies For A Struggling Film Industry, Sage Vanden Heuvel

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The first sale doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 109, grants the owners of a copy of a copyrighted work the right to sell, rent, or lease that copy without permission from the copyright owner. This doctrine, first endorsed by the Supreme Court in Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus, was established at a time when the owner of a good necessarily had to forego possession in order to sell or lease the item to another.[...] The changes in technology and industry over the past two decades threaten to upend this balance. In today's digital world, an owner of a copy of …


Quibbles'n Bits: Making A Digital First Sale Doctrine Feasible, Victor F. Calaba Oct 2002

Quibbles'n Bits: Making A Digital First Sale Doctrine Feasible, Victor F. Calaba

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Whereas the first sale doctrine historically permitted the transfer and resale of copyrighted works, license agreements used by software companies and the DMCA's strict rules prohibiting tampering with access control devices frustrate exercise of the first sale doctrine with respect to many forms of digital works[...] This article explores the first sale doctrine as it pertains to digital works and proposes ways to make a digital first sale doctrine feasible. Part II describes the first sale doctrine as it has traditionally been applied to non-digital works. Part III discusses modern technology's impact on the distribution and use of copyrighted material. …