Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf
Page Number: 9

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

5 

Opinion of the Court 

sion  manufactured  and  sold  with  Wiley’s  permission:  (1) 
an  American  version  printed  and  sold  in  the  United 
States,  and  (2)  a  foreign  version  manufactured  and  sold
abroad.  And Wiley makes certain that copies of the second
version  state  that  they  are  not  to  be  taken  (without  per­
mission) into the United States.  Ibid. 

Petitioner,  Supap  Kirtsaeng,  a  citizen  of  Thailand,
moved  to  the  United  States  in  1997  to  study  mathemat-
ics  at  Cornell  University.  Ibid.  He  paid  for  his  educa-
tion with the help of a Thai Government scholarship which 
required  him  to  teach  in  Thailand  for  10  years  on  his 
return.  Brief  for  Petitioner  7.    Kirtsaeng  successfully
completed  his  undergraduate  courses  at  Cornell,  success­
fully  completed  a  Ph.  D.  program  in  mathematics  at  the
University of Southern California, and then, as promised, 
returned to Thailand to teach.  Ibid.  While he was study­
ing in the United States, Kirtsaeng asked his friends and 
family in Thailand to buy copies of foreign edition English­
language textbooks at Thai book shops, where they sold at
low  prices,  and  mail  them  to  him  in  the  United  States. 
Id.,  at  7–8.    Kirtsaeng  would  then  sell  them,  reimburse 
his family and friends, and keep the profit.  App. to Pet. for 
Cert. 48a–49a. 

B 
In  2008  Wiley  brought  this  federal  lawsuit  against 
Kirtsaeng  for  copyright  infringement.    654  F. 3d,  at  213. 
Wiley  claimed  that  Kirtsaeng’s  unauthorized  importation 
of  its  books  and  his  later  resale  of  those  books  amounted 
to  an  infringement of Wiley’s  §106(3) exclusive  right  to dis­
tribute  as  well  as  §602’s  related  import  prohibition.    17 
U. S. C.  §§106(3)  (2006  ed.),  602(a)  (2006  ed.,  Supp.  V).
See also §501 (2006 ed.) (authorizing infringement action).
App.  204–211.    Kirtsaeng  replied  that  the  books  he  had 
acquired were “ ‘lawfully made’ ” and that he had acquired 
them  legitimately.  Record  in  No.  1:08–CV–7834–DCP