short version: universal music group (UMG) sent out unsolicited promotional CDs which unsurprisingly wound up on ebay. UMG is suing the ebayers, in spite of US caselaw (and indeed logic) to the contrary, arguing they retain ownership of the CDs. long version here.
commentary: a little explanation, if this seems a bit hard to understand:
in US intellectual property law, the “first sale” doctrine dictates that once someone has physical possession of a legal product, they can dispose if it however they like. by way of explanation:
once you've acquired a lawfully-made CD or book or DVD, you can lend, sell, or give it away without having to get permission from the copyright owner. in simpler terms, “you bought it, you own it” (and because first sale also applies to gifts, “they gave it to you, you own it” is also true).
seems obvious, right? after all, without the "first sale" doctrine, libraries would be illegal, as would used bookstores, used record stores, and video rental shops (and their modern variants, like lala and other CD-swapping communities).
i’ll confess i wasn’t familiar with the “first sale” doctrine until reading this article, but it makes a lot of sense.
now, universal’s argument is patently absurd—if you’ll pardon the pun. even if the law didn’t make this laughable, there would also be the problem of it being utterly unenforceable.
i think this is all about their trying to intimidate, much as the recording industry did in trying to sue people who uploaded music to filesharing sites. unfortunately for universal, the EFF stepped up to the plate.
ed
