Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf
Page Number: 58.0

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

17 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

The  Court  implies  that  the  1965  bill’s  “explici[t]  re­
fer[ence] to §106” showed a marked departure from §44(a)
of  the  Copyright  Office’s  prior  draft.    Ante,  at  29.    The 
Copyright Office, however, did not see it that way.  In its 
summary of the 1965 bill’s provisions, the Copyright Office
observed  that  §602(a)  of  the  1965  bill,  like  §44(a)  of  the
Copyright Office’s prior draft, see supra, at 15–16, permit­
ted copyright owners to bring infringement actions against 
unauthorized  importers  in  cases  “where  the  copyright
owner had authorized the making of [the imported] copies 
in a foreign country for distribution only in that country.”
Copyright Law Revision Part 6, at 149–150.  See also id., 
at XXVI (Under §602(a) of the 1965 bill, “[a]n unauthorized 
importer  could  be  enjoined  and  sued  for  damages  both
where  the  copies  or  phonorecords  he  was  importing
were  ‘piratical’  (that  is,  where  their  making  would  have
constituted  an  infringement  if  the  U. S.  copyright  law 
could  have  been  applied),  and  where  their  making  was 
‘lawful.’ ”).

The  current  text  of  §602(a)(1)  was  finally  enacted  into
law in 1976.  See Copyright Act of 1976, §602(a), 90 Stat. 
2589–2590.  The House and Senate Committee Reports on
the  1976  Act  demonstrate  that  Congress  understood,  as 
did the Copyright Office, just what that text meant.  Both 
Reports state: 

“Section 602 [deals] with two separate situations: im­
portation  of  ‘piratical’  articles  (that  is,  copies  or
phonorecords  made  without  any  authorization  of  the 

—————— 

In the current version, the phrase “for the purpose of distribution to the 
public” is omitted and the phrase “that have been acquired outside the 
United States” appears in its stead.  There are no material differences 
between the quoted language from the 1965 bill and the corresponding
language contained in the 1964 bill.  See Copyright Law Revision Part
6: Supplementary Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General 
Revision of the U. S. Copyright Law: 1965 Revision Bill, 89th Cong., 1st
Sess., 292–293 (H. R. Judiciary Comm. Print 1965).