Editing Copyright (section)

=== The first-sale doctrine and exhaustion of rights ===

{{Main|First-sale doctrine |Exhaustion of rights }}
Copyright law does not restrict the owner of a copy from reselling legitimately obtained copies of copyrighted works, provided that those copies were originally produced by or with the permission of the copyright holder. It is therefore legal, for example, to resell a copyrighted book or [[compact disc|CD]]. In the United States this is known as the [[first-sale doctrine]], and was established by the [[court]]s to clarify the legality of reselling books in second-hand [[bookstore]]s.

Some countries may have [[parallel importation]] restrictions that allow the copyright holder to control the [[aftermarket (merchandise)|aftermarket]]. This may mean for example that a copy of a book that does not infringe copyright in the country where it was printed does infringe copyright in a country into which it is imported for retailing. The first-sale doctrine is known as [[exhaustion of rights]] in other countries and is a principle which also applies, though somewhat differently, to [[patent]] and [[trademark]] rights. While this doctrine permits the transfer of the particular legitimate copy involved, it does not permit making or distributing additional copies.

In ''[[Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=11-697 Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |website=Supreme Court of the United States |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702033641/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf |archive-date=2 July 2017 }}</ref> in 2013, the [[United States Supreme Court]] held in a 6–3 decision that the first-sale doctrine applies to goods manufactured abroad with the copyright owner's permission and then imported into the US without such permission. The case involved a plaintiff who imported Asian editions of textbooks that had been manufactured abroad with the publisher-plaintiff's permission. The defendant, without permission from the publisher, imported the textbooks and resold on [[eBay]]. The Supreme Court's holding severely limits the ability of copyright holders to prevent such importation.

In addition, copyright, in most cases, does not prohibit one from acts such as modifying, defacing, or destroying one's own legitimately obtained copy of a copyrighted work, so long as duplication is not involved. However, in countries that implement [[Moral rights (copyright law)|moral rights]], a copyright holder can in some cases successfully prevent the mutilation or destruction of a work that is publicly visible.