April 24 – Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Despite its century-plus pedigree, there are some aspects of the first-sale doctrine that have yet to be explored. If I buy a copy of “A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole at the bookstore, I can resell that copy as a used book. But what if I buy an e-book version of Toole’s novel? Does the first-sale doctrine allow a digital resale? Since the publisher got the benefit of making the original digital sale to me, one might expect that I would have a right to sell the digital copy for less than I paid, transmit it the to buyer and delete the original digital copy from my computer.
Read more: Prof. William McGrath Looks at Digital First-Sale Doctrine Facing a Big Test
