Supreme Court Backs Student in Dispute Over Used Textbook Sales

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that copyrighted items made overseas—and that includes not only books but also CDs, DVDs, computers, watches and anything else with copyrighted material in it—are covered by a federal law that says a person who buys such a product is free to turn around and sell it.

The ruling came in a case involving Supap Kirtsaeng, a student from Thailand who was surprised by the high cost of academic textbooks when he arrived in the United States to attend college. He asked his parents to search bookstores back home and send him much cheaper English language versions