Re: Software to Block Ads -- Is this an illegal device?

Well, this is ancient history, but I've been catching up on my reading and was confused by this:

On 2/25/98, S. Martin Keleti <keleti[_at_]manifesto.com> wrote:
>
> I think that the hypotheticals regarding tearing out pages from books
> and wallpaper made from magazines are closer to each other than the mute
> button, and their legality is more easily explained by the first sale
> doctrine, as enshrined in s. 109 of the Copyright Act and decisional
> law. The book or magazine is a copy of one or more of the following:
> a literary work, pictorial work, etc. The owner of an authorized,
> tangible copy, can write notes on it, paint mustaches on it, shred it,
> or even burn it without incurring copyright liability, so long as such
> use does not overstep the limitations on the right of distribution and
> _public_ display (as opposed to Ari's _home_ bathroom, which we should
> hope is private). These alterered copies might be derivative works
> whose preparation the Copyright Act does not expressly permit, but
> without further distribution or duplication, the first sale doctrine
> would appear to permit it.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but how does the first sale doctrine permit an owner of a copy to "write notes on it, paint mustaches on it, shred it, or even burn it"? Section 109 says that the owner of a copy may "sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of" the copy. It doesn't say anything about modifying it, or creating a derivative work from it. I've looked at a few cases, including: Columbia v. Aveco; American International v. Foreman; Hearst v. Stark; Disney v. Basmajian; and Cosmair v. Dynamite. All of them refer to the first sale doctrine as giving a bona fide purchaser the right to sell or transfer his copy; none say he has the right to modify his copy.

Apart from the fair use defense, what is the source of the notion that we can modify our copies of works notwithstanding section 106(2)? It makes sense that such a right should exist, but where does it come from?

Thanks,
Ari

Ari Kahan
<akahan[_at_]ix.netcom.com>

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