Copyright case could threaten eBay and garage sales

By Pete Williams, NBC News Justice Correspondent

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a case to be argued Monday, wades into a controversy over federal copyright law that could determine the legal rights of American consumers to sell thousands of used products on eBay and at garage sales and flea markets.

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The article is a little long to post here, but appears to involve publishers' practice of selling cheap in foreign markets and at much higher prices in the US.

Other possibly related © questions relate to whether purchase of copyrighted material conveys ownership of the printed copy, or is, as Amazon is claiming in separate lawsuits, only a "lease of use" subject to withdrawal by the original seller (who in Amazon's case may not hold the copyright).

Greed appears to be a dominant force in © law, and has corrupted the original purposes of even having such law beyond anything that the originators would recognize, but I'm not sufficiently involved to make much comment.

The current case will require a whole bunch of serious thought to even guess at what unintended consequences may result, beyond the scope of the question before the Court.

John