Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf
Page Number: 49.0

8 

KIRTSAENG v. JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC. 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

The  logical  implication  of  the  Court’s  definition  of  the 
word “under” is that any copy manufactured abroad—even 
a piratical one made without the copyright owner’s author­
ization and in violation of the law of the country where it 
was created—would fall within the scope of §109(a).  Any 
such  copy  would  have  been  made  “in  accordance  with”  or
“in compliance with” the U. S. Copyright Act, in the sense 
that  manufacturing  the  copy  did  not  violate  the  Act  (be­
cause the Act does not apply extraterritorially). 

The  Court  rightly  refuses  to  accept  such  an  absurd
conclusion.  Instead, it interprets §109(a) as applying only
to copies whose making actually complied with Title 17, or
would  have  complied  with  Title  17  had  Title  17  been  ap­
plicable  (i.e.,  had  the  copies  been  made  in  the  United 
States).  See ante, at 8 (“§109(a)’s ‘first sale’ doctrine would 
apply  to  copyrighted  works  as  long  as  their  manufacture
met the requirements of American copyright law.”).  Con­
gress,  however,  used  express  language  when  it  called  for
such  a  counterfactual  inquiry  in  17  U. S. C.  §§602(a)(2) 
and  (b).  See  §602(a)(2)  (“Importation  into  the  United 
States or exportation from the United States, without the
authority  of  the  owner  of  copyright  under  this  title,  of
copies or phonorecords, the making of which either consti­
tuted  an  infringement  of  copyright,  or  which  would  have 
constituted  an  infringement  of  copyright  if  this  title  had 
been  applicable,  is  an  infringement  of  the  exclusive  right 
to  distribute  copies  or  phonorecords  under  section  106.” 
(emphasis  added));  §602(b)  (“In  a  case  where  the  making 

—————— 

under this title.”  The word “made” signifies that the conduct at issue is 
the  creation  or  manufacture  of  a  copy.    See  Webster’s  Third  New 
International  Dictionary  1356  (1961)  (defining  “made”  as  “artificially
produced by a manufacturing process”).  The word “lawfully” indicates 
that  for  §109(a)  to  apply,  the  copy’s  creation  must  have  complied  with 
some  body  of  law.    Finally,  the  prepositional  phrase  “under  this  title”
clarifies what that body of law is—namely, the copyright prescriptions
contained in Title 17 of the U. S. Code.