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They aren't selling a code for the download, though. They are selling you physical movie that comes with code to enjoy a digital copy. It's a bundled service, a
by Noos 9y ago
They aren't selling a code for the download, though. They are selling you physical movie that comes with code to enjoy a digital copy. It's a bundled service, and I'm not sure first sale allows resellers to strip that and sell for profit, any more than Wal-Mart could order blu-rays that come with a DVD, open them up, and sell both separately.
Or open up a PS4 with a code for a free game in it, and sell the game.
- eli 9y agoWait, why couldn't Walmart do that?
- Noos 9y agoI'm not sure. I was arguing that if it's feasible, they probably would be doing it by now. My guess is either the UCC or walmart's contract with Disney prevents the breaking apart or reselling of bundled services.
- astura 9y agoBecause Walmart has to play nice with the studios to keep their supply of wholesale movies coming. The difference is, in this case at least, RedBox is buying their movies retail. So Redbox buys Disney movies just like you and I do, from a store shelf.
- mjmahone17 9y agoThis case is exactly asking whether someone can “order blu-rays that come with a DVD, open them up, and sell both separately.” Intuitively first sale doctrine should imply you can: I can buy a bunch of packs of trading cards, open them up, then sell the cards individually. Likewise I should be able to buy a book, tear it apart and sell one chapter of it at a time. Or buy a gallon of flour and split it into 12-oz containers to sell. This question is the crux of the case, though, so it will be very interesting to see what legal arguments are offered, and what precedent applies.
- gwbas1c 9y agoBack in the late 1980s and early 1990s games would come with a disk for an IBM-compatible and a disk for an Apple II in the box. That's plenty of precedent.
- tedunangst 9y agoActually there have been court rulings that ripping a book apart creates derivative works (what is a single chapter if not an abridged version of the original?), so you can't do that. Although other courts have ruled you can.
- rhizome 9y agoInteresting. Got a cite for the book-ripping case?
- tedunangst 9y agohttp://www.ogdenglazer.com/intellectual-property/this-split-is-bananas/ http://www.ogdenglazer.com/intellectual-property/this-split-... or http://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=facschol http://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?articl... are places to start.
- rhizome 9y agoThanks! To be fair, it doesn't look like that particular situation is settled law yet.
- toast0 9y agoWal-Mart absolutely could do that, but the studios would probably stop selling bundled media directly to them. Wal-Mart is going to have a much harder time stocking their stores by buying from other retailers than Redbox has stocking kiosks by shopping at retailers.