Supreme Court To Consider First Sale of Imports 259
Posted
by
kdawson
from the copyright-because-i-say-so dept.
from the copyright-because-i-say-so dept.
Animaether passes along a legal tale that "doesn't involve the kind of cutting-edge issues that copyright lawyers usually grapple with in the digital age [and] sounds like the kind of lawsuit that should have been resolved 200 years ago," yet still "is very much a product of the Internet-driven global economy." "Can copyright owners assert rights over imported goods that have already been sold once? That is the issue before the Supreme Court in Costco Wholesale Corp v. Omega, S.A. (backstory here). What's at stake is the ability of resellers to offer legitimate, non-pirated versions of copyrighted goods, manufactured in foreign nations, to US consumers at prices that undercut those charged by the copyright holders."
How does copyright come into play here? (Score:4, Interesting)
Only one solution to all these problems. (Score:1, Interesting)
The planet needs a global, multinational currency. That will stop the problems about different prices for each country, problems about manufacturing costs and problems about the purchasing power of everyone. No longer will manufacturing things in China or offering customer support from India be profitable. In return, people will once again have money to spend and the money will flow more freely (both figuratively and literally).
Re:Why does this even need to be discussed? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Copyright weirdness (Score:5, Interesting)
CSS is pitifully weak; but it was perhaps the first demonstration of this concept that gained huge market traction. Thanks to CSS licensing requirements, adding technologically enforced region coding became trivial.
As the cost of computing power continues to fall, and the number of devices that have embedded firmware and/or unique serial numbers continues to increase, there is virtually no area of "real property" over which the DMCA and copyright law will not eventually exert de facto control.
Re:How does copyright come into play here? (Score:5, Interesting)
Law and Precedents (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why does this even need to be discussed? (Score:3, Interesting)
Interestingly enough, if I read it correctly, this doesn't apply to people importing things for their own personal use. So downloading music from a jurisdiction that doesn't recognize US copyrights is completely legit, as long as you don't share it with anyone.
Re:Law and Precedents (Score:1, Interesting)
By relying on precedents, it is easier to tell what the law is. You don't have to worry about a future court interpreting the same law a different way.
If you want to change the law, you can still do it through Congress. Even the Constitution can be amended if you don't like how the courts have interpreted it.
Re:Law and Precedents (Score:3, Interesting)
No, it's the same as saying "because the supreme court decided that way in a similar situation, and it's a real waste of time to try to reverse the supreme court with our own fanciful rulings". That doesn't seem to stop the Ninth Circuit, however.
It's also a way of adding inertia to the system, which in the long run is a good thing. It's very hard doing anything under a system that flip-flops every time a judge farts. Or in a country where three regions (circuits) operate under courts that rule one way and the rest under different rulings.
That's also why the inertia of having a bicameral legislature is worth the effort.
Re:Why does this even need to be discussed? (Score:2, Interesting)
This is the inconvenient truth that gets lost in the health care debate - one of the reasons that modern health care is so expensive is that all the cheap/easy medical advances are generations behind us. Modern advances are necessarily far more difficult and expensive to develop, and those costs must be borne by somebody if the research is to continue. At the same time, progressive medical advances have made it possible to add years to the end of many people's lives, and have made many previously fatal conditions survivable. Unfortunately, the older a person becomes, the more medical care he needs, and the more likely he is to develop a condition that is now survivable, but only at great expense.
This is why any true health reform must draw a balance between providing treatment and managing costs. At some point, 87 year-old John Smith is going to have to accept that society cannot afford to spend $5 million on cancer treatment to extend his life by another 6 months. Try selling that to the voters, though.
Re:"Grey Market" (Score:2, Interesting)
Thankfully, for most products this doesn't happen
It does for a lot of laptops. That's why many companies seem to have - for example - a model that ends in -US or CA. The major model number on the top may say DX8200, but the stamp on the bottom is more specifically a DX8243CA...
Re:Global economy baby ! (Score:5, Interesting)
Imagine: Omega watches which sync up with the radio signal from an atomic clock, but refuse to configure themselves for any timezones other than those for which it was authorized for sale.
Of course, they'd lose the lucrative international traveler market. Or they'll have temporary time zone support, but if you stay too long in a foreign timezone it will reset or disable itself.
And then comes the question: what if I, as an (American) international traveler, buy one of their manufactured-in-Switzerland watches cheaply in an authorized country, travel back to the US, and then decide I don't like it (or need the money) and want to sell the watch on eBay? Apparently they want to bar me from selling the watch because it wasn't authorized for sale in the US.
Will they have their goons patrolling the US looking for people wearing imported watches and harass them to show their receipts showing they personally purchased the watch overseas or give up who sold them the watch under threat of prosecution? "Product's papers, please?"
Re:Free market, right? (Score:3, Interesting)
I disagree with your analysis. You claim that they tend towards being somewhat decentralized. On the contrary, I think they start out as decentralized "entrepreneurships" and then tend towards becoming centralized "organized crime".
We call these centralized units "the Mob" or "cartels" or something.
Without firsthand knowledge, I'd bet that Somalia's pirate business has consolidated in this fashion in the last few years as well. It's highly unlikely that each pirate vessel and crew act on their own without higher controlling authority.
Re:Why does this even need to be discussed? (Score:1, Interesting)
And by coming up with new "diseases" to treat. Like Restless Legs Syndrome. What the fuck is that? Yes sometimes my legs feels restless. BUT YOU CAN CURE IT BY GETTING SOME FUCKING EXERCISE! People just want to be super lazy and just sit around on the couch, taking whatever drug they need out of the toolbox to "cure" whatever ails them at that moment. I have an uncle like that. What do you got? Mildly constipated? Try one of the 3 treatments he has in his medicine cabinet for that. Or maybe it's a slight headache? Try this, or this, or this...
Meanwhile, the drug companies are focussing on long-term diseases, like depression, because they can then hook you on their drug for life. This is why there are few new anti-biotics released, according to a doctor friend I have.
Re:Global economy baby ! (Score:3, Interesting)
I just got this horrific image of a dystopian future in which you have to carry on your person licenses for every piece of hardware, software, content, fashion accessory, haircut, tattoo, etc. that you have on your person. Don't have your license? Pay the fine or go to jail. The scariest thing about that is I can see it coming true.
I think I need to go lie down...
Re:Free market, right? (Score:1, Interesting)
"Free market" is an oxymoron in the first place (when taken to the logical extreme of "totally unregulated", anyways).
Except that extreme is not logical given an understanding of the free market as described by Adam Smith.
Without property rights, and contract enforcement, and currency, the forces of supply and demand still exist but can't develop into anything like the byzantine sophistication of Wall Street.
Those things are fundamental pre-conditions of a free market as described by Smith. Your argument against the free market is a straw man, because you are arguing against a construct of your own imagination ("free market" as totally unregulated without even property rights or contract enforcement) when no free market economist has ever actually proposed such a thing.
Re:Free market, right? (Score:4, Interesting)