Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf
Page Number: 21

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

17 

Opinion of the Court 

C 

A  relevant  canon  of  statutory  interpretation  favors  a 
nongeographical reading.  “[W]hen a statute covers an is- 
sue previously governed by the common law,” we must pre- 
sume  that  “Congress  intended  to  retain  the  substance  of
the  common  law.”  Samantar  v.  Yousuf,  560  U. S.  ___, 
___,  n. 13  (2010)  (slip  op.,  at  14,  n. 13).    See  also 
Isbrandtsen  Co.  v.  Johnson,  343  U. S.  779,  783  (1952) 
(“Statutes which invade the common law . . . are to be read 
with  a  presumption  favoring  the  retention  of  long­
established  and  familiar  principles,  except  when  a  statu- 
tory purpose to the contrary is evident”).

The  “first  sale”  doctrine  is  a  common-law  doctrine  with 
an impeccable historic pedigree.  In the early 17th century
Lord  Coke  explained  the  common  law’s  refusal  to  permit
restraints  on  the  alienation  of  chattels.  Referring  to  Lit­
tleton,  who  wrote  in  the  15th  century,  Gray,  Two  Contri­
butions  to  Coke  Studies,  72  U.  Chi.  L. Rev.  1127,  1135 
(2005), Lord Coke wrote: 

“[If] a man be possessed of . . . a horse, or of any other
chattell  . . .  and  give  or  sell  his  whole  interest  . . .
therein upon condition that the Donee or Vendee shall
not  alien[ate]  the  same,  the  [condition]  is  voi[d],  be­
cause  his  whole  interest  . . .  is  out  of  him,  so  as  he 
hath  no  possibilit[y]  of  a  Reverter,  and  it  is  against 
Trade  and  Traffi[c],  and  bargaining  and  contracting
betwee[n] man and man: and it is within the reason of
our  Author  that  it  should  ouster  him  of  all  power 
given  to  him.”  1  E.  Coke,  Institutes  of  the  Laws  of 
England §360, p. 223 (1628). 

A  law  that  permits  a  copyright  holder  to  control  the 
resale  or  other  disposition  of  a  chattel  once  sold  is  simi- 
larly “against Trade and Traffi[c], and bargaining and con- 
tracting.”  Ibid. 

With  these  last  few  words,  Coke  emphasizes  the  im­