The Supreme Court to Decide the Fate of Garage Sales, Ebay, and Craigslist

And so you are tired of that Total Gym Chuck Norris talked you into on a late night infomercial on DIRECTV. It's been sitting in the corner collecting dust after you didn't get the results you wanted. It's spring and it's time for a garage sale right?

Not so fast.

In a world Ayn Rand predicted where corporate cronies conspire with Washington politicians to micromanage everything, it appears the garage sale and any type of second hand sale may be on the endangered list thanks to Mordor on the Potomac's evil.

Market Watch reports:


Tucked into the U.S. Supreme Court’s busy agenda this fall is a little-known case that could upend your ability to resell everything from your grandmother’s antique furniture to your iPhone 4.

At issue in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons is the first-sale doctrine in copyright law, which allows you to buy and then sell things like electronics, books, artwork and furniture as well as CDs and DVDs, without getting permission from the copyright holder of those products.

Under the doctrine, which the Supreme Court has recognized since 1908, you can resell your stuff without worry because the copyright holder only had control over the first sale.

Put simply, though Apple has the copyright on the iPhone and Mark Owen does on the book “No Easy Day,” you can still sell your copies to whomever you please whenever you want without retribution.


That’s being challenged now for products that are made abroad and if the Supreme Court upholds an appellate court ruling it would mean that the copyright holders of anything you own that has been made in China, Japan or Europe, for example, would have to give you permission to sell it.

Of course you would have to ask here about the interstate commerce clause if you don't sell outside of your home state, but of course Bush appointee John Roberts didn't appear to care much for the Constitution earlier this year when he ensured we would face the reality of the federal government forcing us into a contractual agreement with a health insurance company.