Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf
Page Number: 29.0

Cite as:  568 U. S. ____ (2013) 

25 

Opinion of the Court 

we  asked  whether  the  Act’s  “importation  provision,”  now 
§602(a)(1)  (then  §602(a)),  barred  importation  (without 
permission)  of  a  copyrighted  item  (labels  affixed  to  hair 
care  products)  where  an  American  copyright  owner  au­
thorized  the  first  sale  and  export  of  hair  care  products
with  copyrighted  labels  made  in  the  United  States,  and
where a buyer sought to import them back into the United 
States  without  the  copyright  owner’s  permission.  523 
U. S., at 138–139. 

We held that the importation provision did not prohibit
sending the products back into the United States (without
the copyright owner’s permission).  That section says: 

“Importation  into  the  United  States,  without  the  au­
thority  of  the  owner  of  copyright  under  this  title,  of 
copies  or  phonorecords  of  a  work  that  have  been
acquired outside the United States is an infringement
of  the  exclusive  right  to  distribute  copies  or  phono­
records  under  section  106.”  17  U. S. C.  §602(a)(1) 
(2006  ed.,  Supp.  V)  (emphasis  added).    See  also 
§602(a) (1994 ed.). 

We  pointed  out  that  this  section  makes  importation  an
infringement of the “exclusive right to distribute . . . under 
106.”  We  noted  that  §109(a)’s  “first  sale”  doctrine  limits 
the scope of the §106 exclusive distribution right.  We took 
as  given  the  fact  that  the  products  at  issue  had  at  least 
once  been  sold.    And  we  held  that  consequently,  importa­
tion  of  the  copyrighted  labels  does  not  violate  §602(a)(1).
523 U. S., at 145. 

In  reaching  this  conclusion  we  endorsed  Bobbs-Merrill 

and  its  statement  that  the  copyright  laws  were  not  “in­
tended to create a right which would permit the holder of 
the copyright to fasten, by notice in a book . . . a restriction
upon  the  subsequent  alienation  of  the  subject-matter  of 
copyright after the owner had parted with the title to one 
who  had  acquired  full  dominion  over  it.”    210  U. S.,  at