At the State of the Net Conference in late January, eBay Inc. Vice President & Deputy General Counsel Tod Cohen joined the First Sale Panel and publicly declared that eBay will fight to protect owners’ rights should a Supreme Court case ruling undermine the right to resale or give away legitimately purchased goods made overseas.

Mr. Cohen stated that eBay will take its case to Capitol Hill and ask members of Congress for legislation that would authorize the resale of copyrighted-protected works made overseas.  The case at issue involves an eBay seller, Supap Kirtsaeng, who purchased legitimate books in Thailand and resold them on eBay, calming first sale protection.  The publisher claimed that Kirtsaeng did not have resale permission and successfully won hundreds of thousands of dollars of damages against him.  eBay filed a brief in support of Kirtsaeng.  The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling sometime soon.

To listen to the First Sale Panel discussion, download this audio recording.

 To learn more about the issue of owners’ rights and how you can join congressional efforts, visit the Owner's Rights Initiative.