Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-697_d1o2.pdf
Page Number: 48

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

7 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

under  [Title  17],”  the  crucial  precondition  for  application 
of §109(a).  And if §109(a) does not apply, there is no dis­
pute  that  Kirtsaeng’s  conduct  constituted  copyright  in­
fringement under §602(a)(1).

The  Court’s  point  of  departure  is  similar  to  mine.    Ac­
cording  to  the  Court,  the  phrase  “ ‘lawfully  made  under 
this  title’  means  made  ‘in  accordance  with’  or  ‘in  compli­
ance with’ the Copyright Act.”  Ante, at 8.  But the Court 
overlooks  that,  according  to  the  very  dictionaries  it  cites, 
ante, at 9, the word “under” commonly signals a relation­
ship  of  subjection,  where  one  thing  is  governed  or  regu- 
lated by another.  See Black’s Law Dictionary 1525 (6th ed.
1990)  (“under”  “frequently”  means  “inferior”  or  “subordi­
nate”  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted));  18  Oxford 
English  Dictionary  950  (2d  ed.  1989)  (“under”  means, 
among other things, “[i]n accordance with (some regulative 
power or principle)” (emphasis added)).  See also Webster’s 
Third  New  International  Dictionary  2487  (1961)  (“under” 
means,  among  other  things,  “in  . . .  a  condition  of  sub- 
jection,  regulation,  or  subordination”  and  “suffering  re­
striction,  restraint,  or  control  by”).    Only  by  disregarding
this  established  meaning  of  “under”  can  the  Court  arrive
at  the  conclusion  that  Wiley’s  foreign-manufactured  text­
books  were  “lawfully  made  under”  U. S.  copyright  law,
even  though  that  law  did  not  govern  their  creation.    It  is 
anomalous,  however,  to  speak  of  particular  conduct  as 
“lawful”  under  an  inapplicable  law.    For  example,  one
might  say  that  driving  on  the  right  side  of  the  road  in
England is “lawful” under U. S. law, but that would be so
only  because  U. S.  law  has  nothing  to  say  about  the  sub­
ject.  The  governing  law  is  English  law,  and  English  law 
demands that driving be done on the left side of the road.4 

—————— 

4 The  Court  asserts  that  my  position  gives  the  word  “lawfully”  in 
§109(a) “little, if any, linguistic work to do.”  Ante, at 9.  That is not so. 
My  reading  gives  meaning  to  each  word  in  the  phrase  “lawfully  made