There is an interesting case currently being heard regarding the First Sale doctrine in Copyright and its implications with respect to foreign sales. The First Sale doctrine states that when a copyright holder makes a sale of a copy of a work, that sale cuts off all of the copyright holders’ rights to that copy. This is why a library can lend out a book it owns, because the copyright holder has no rights in the copy. Likewise, sale of used books.
Kirtsaeng vs. John Wiley & Sons case at the Supreme Court is about the interaction of the copyright holders’ right to control importation of a copyright work and the First Sale doctrine.