Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Sale of foreign editions of usa books in usa

A lot of text book publishers in USA like prentice hall, wiley,pearson education have given publishers permission to print books in other countries like singapore. Sometimes another divion of the same company opens up a branch office in the other country and starts publishing books.

Since people cannot afford USA text books there, the books there are of lower quality and consequently quite cheap.

My question is whether I can sell those books here as ''used'' books on internet websites like Amazon.com.

All the books have a small imprint on the backcover which says that ''This book is meant only for sale in singapore''

Now Would I be committing a criminal offense, If i got the books from singapore and sold them as a used book here in the USA ?

Also Would I be committing criminal copyright infringement if I sold those books here.

Those books were legally bought in the originating country.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Seeker


Asked on 9/04/02, 10:52 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Keith E. Cooper Keith E. Cooper, Esq.

Re: Sale of foreign editions of usa books in usa

This response is for general information only and does not create an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice.

Your question is really about licensing and trade. The publishers you refer to license their works in various territories for particular persons or entities to exploit the works in those territories. If a person in one territory takes the books to another territory, he is violating his licensing agreement with the publisher, and infringing upon another licensees trade rights in that other territory.

Under the "first sale" doctrine of copyright, if you purchase a book for your own use (not for resale), you are free to dispose of it however you wish--keep it, give it away, throw it away, or sell it--and that would probably apply to any book, as long as you purchased it on the open market. (You should, however, disclose where you got the book.) However, if you buy in bulk to resell, you would probably run afoul of licensing agreements.

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Answered on 9/18/02, 9:11 pm


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