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09-4896-cv

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Supap Kirtsaeng

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

August Term, 2009

(Argued: May 19, 2010 Decided: April 23, 2013)

Docket No. 09-4896-cv

_______________________________________________________________

JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

SUPAP KIRTSAENG, doing business as BLUECHRISTINE99,

Defendant-Appellant.

_______________________________________________________________

Before: CABRANES and KATZMANN, Circuit Judges, and MURTHA, District Judge.

*

This case returns to us on remand from the Supreme Court of the United States, which 

reversed our prior decision by holding that the “first sale” doctrine, see 17 U.S.C. § 109(a), provides a 

defense against a copyright infringement claim based on unauthorized resale “where, as here, copies 

are manufactured abroad with the permission of the copyright owner.” Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & 

Sons, Inc., 133 S. Ct. 1351, 1358 (2013). Based on this holding, we have nothing left to decide in this 

case. Kirtsaeng’s liability was erroneously premised on the inapplicability of the first sale doctrine to 

 

*

.The Honorable J. Garvan Murtha, of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, sitting by 

designation.
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copyrighted works manufactured abroad. The judgment of the United States District Court for the 

Southern District of New York (Donald C. Pogue, Judge of the United States Court of International 

Trade, sitting by designation) is reversed and the cause is remanded for such further proceedings as 

may be appropriate prior to entry of final judgment.

William Dunnegan (Laura Scileppi, on the brief), Dunnegan

LLC, New York, NY, for plaintiff-appellee.

Sam P. Israel, New York, NY, for defendant-appellant.

John T. Mitchell, Interaction Law, Washington, DC, for amici 

curiae Entertainment Merchants Association and National 

Association of Recording Merchandisers.

Norman H. Levin (Aaron J. Moss, on the brief), Greenberg 

Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP, Los 

Angeles, CA, for amicus curiae Costco Wholesale 

Corporation.

Charles A. Weiss, Kenyon & Kenyon LLP (Mark A. Abate, 

Goodwin Proctor LLP, on the brief), New York, NY, 

for amicus curiae New York Intellectual Property Law 

Association.

PER CURIAM:

This case returns to us on remand from the Supreme Court of the United States, which 

reversed our prior decision by holding that the “first sale” doctrine, see 17 U.S.C. § 109(a), provides a 

defense against a copyright infringement claim based on unauthorized resale “where, as here, copies 

are manufactured abroad with the permission of the copyright owner.” Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & 

Sons, Inc., 133 S. Ct. 1351, 1358 (2013). We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts and 

procedural history of this case.

Based on the Supreme Court’s holding, we have nothing left to decide. A jury found 

defendant-appellant Supap Kirtsaeng liable of copyright infringement based on his importation and 
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resale of copyrighted works manufactured abroad.1 Kirtsaeng’s liability was premised on the 

inapplicability of the first sale doctrine to copyrighted works manufactured abroad, even when 

(as here) the copyrighted works were manufactured and initially sold in accordance with the 

copyright laws of the United States.2 The United States District Court for the Southern District of 

New York (Donald C. Pogue, Judge of the United States Court of International Trade, sitting by 

designation) denied Kirtsaeng’s motion to instruct the jury regarding the applicability of the first sale 

defense.

In light of the Supreme Court’s holding that the first sale doctrine does apply to such works, 

thus providing Kirtsaeng with a valid defense to copyright infringement, the District Court’s 

judgment is REVERSED, and the cause is REMANDED for such further proceedings as may be 

appropriate prior to entry of final judgment.

 

1 Plaintiff-appellee originally asserted trademark infringement and unfair competition claims, which were voluntarily 

dismissed with prejudice prior to trial. See Joint Pre-Trial Order, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Kirtsaeng, 08 Civ. 7834 (DCP) 

(S.D.N.Y. Oct. 28, 2009), ECF No. 64, at 14 (“Pre-Trial Order”).

2 The parties’ joint stipulation of facts prior to trial states, in relevant part, that the textbooks at issue “are only 

Wiley textbooks originally acquired from the foreign copyright owner” and “were manufactured in accordance with 

[United States copyright law] . . . . There is no claim here that these were counterfeit books.” Pre-Trial Order at 11.