Re: US Supreme Court: Parallel Imports of copyrighted goods are OK

The effects of the case are not entirely clear in some respects--it depends on how one reads the concurrence. On one point, at least, this case settles the law: if a domestically made copyrighted work leaves this country and is sold abroad, the copyright owner cannot prevent importation.

In terms of franchise agreements, obviously, a territorial restriction only has effect against parties in privity. One _may_ (depending on what one makes of Justice Ginsburg's concurrence) provide that copies of any copyrighted work must be made abroad. Thus the Givenchy cases in the 9th Circuit still appear to be good law.

The irony of this is that it gives foreign multinationals the ability to get around 15 USC 1526's affiliate exception and thereby segment their markets, while leaving domestic companies unable to do so.

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Christopher A. Mohr
<chrismohr[_at_]sprintmail.com> Received on Thu Mar 12 1998 - 14:30:38 GMT