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What happened to first sale doctrine? That student who was charged for reselling books he bought overseas was eventually vindicated: http://arstechnica.com/te

What happened to first sale doctrine? That student who was charged for reselling books he bought overseas was eventually vindicated: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/thai-student-protected-by-first-sale-supreme-court-rules/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/thai-student-prot...

rayiner 13y ago
The textbook case was about first sale doctrine, which is a copyright concept. This is about import/export restrictions. You do not, in general, have a right to ship whatever you want in and out of the country. Once something crosses the U.S. border, it becomes the subject of U.S. customs and trade regulations. It's very different than buying something within the U.S. and reselling it within the U.S., or validly importing something from abroad and reselling within the U.S. I happen to think these particular regulations are stupid, but I also don't know the rationale behind them. They could very well be something we conceded to Germany (we won't let people reexport cars imported into the U.S. from Germany) in return for them conceding something else in a trade agreement. It's easy to blame "lobbying by industry <X>" for anything and everything, but think about it: what the hell do we care about profits that wind up in Germany anyway? Germany is the government with the strong interest in BMW/Mercedes/Audi's profits, not the U.S.
- preinheimer 13y ago
  Thanks for clarifying. So, when tourists enter the US, do they need permission to leave with souvenirs? I was (falsely?) under the impression that once you purchased something you were able to do with it what you please. So the manufacturer of an item wouldn't be able to stop you from reselling it, domestically or otherwise.
  - twoodfin 13y ago
    So, when tourists enter the US, do they need permission to leave with souvenirs? It depends on the export restrictions. A couple of decades ago, if your "souvenir" was a device capable of encrypting data with a key larger than a few dozen bits, yes, you would need permission to leave with it.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - lmm 13y ago
    > So, when tourists enter the US, do they need permission to leave with souvenirs? Yes, though there's almost certainly an exemption for items worth less than $x00 and/or for personal use.

rayiner 13y ago

The textbook case was about first sale doctrine, which is a copyright concept. This is about import/export restrictions. You do not, in general, have a right to ship whatever you want in and out of the country. Once something crosses the U.S. border, it becomes the subject of U.S. customs and trade regulations. It's very different than buying something within the U.S. and reselling it within the U.S., or validly importing something from abroad and reselling within the U.S. I happen to think these particular regulations are stupid, but I also don't know the rationale behind them. They could very well be something we conceded to Germany (we won't let people reexport cars imported into the U.S. from Germany) in return for them conceding something else in a trade agreement. It's easy to blame "lobbying by industry <X>" for anything and everything, but think about it: what the hell do we care about profits that wind up in Germany anyway? Germany is the government with the strong interest in BMW/Mercedes/Audi's profits, not the U.S.

preinheimer 13y ago
Thanks for clarifying. So, when tourists enter the US, do they need permission to leave with souvenirs? I was (falsely?) under the impression that once you purchased something you were able to do with it what you please. So the manufacturer of an item wouldn't be able to stop you from reselling it, domestically or otherwise.
- twoodfin 13y ago
  So, when tourists enter the US, do they need permission to leave with souvenirs? It depends on the export restrictions. A couple of decades ago, if your "souvenir" was a device capable of encrypting data with a key larger than a few dozen bits, yes, you would need permission to leave with it.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- lmm 13y ago
  > So, when tourists enter the US, do they need permission to leave with souvenirs? Yes, though there's almost certainly an exemption for items worth less than $x00 and/or for personal use.