[License-discuss] Reverse Engineering and Open Source Licenses

[Pamela Chestek]

On 3/10/2015 12:55 PM, cowan at ccil.org wrote:
> Fortunately, books are also sold --
> at least so far, though nothing stops book publishers from putting
> the same sort of notice into each copy of a book and gutting the
> used-book market.
A Supreme Court case does:

The precise question, therefore, in this case is, does the sole right to
vend (named in § 4952) secure to the owner of the copyright the right,
after a sale of the book to a purchaser, to restrict future sales of the
book at retail, to the right to sell it at a certain price per copy,
because of a notice in the book that a sale at a different price will be
treated as an infringement, which notice has been brought home to one
undertaking to sell for less than the named sum? We do not think the
statute can be given such a construction, and it is to be remembered
that this is purely a question of statutory construction. There is no
claim in this case of contract limitation, nor license agreement
controlling the subsequent sales of the book.

In our view the copyright statutes, while protecting the owner of the
copyright in his right to multiply and sell his production, do not
create the right to impose, by notice, such as is disclosed in this
case, a limitation at which the book shall be sold at retail by future
purchasers, with whom there is no privity of contract.

Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus, 210 U.S. 339, 350 (U.S. 1908).

So at least they'd have to shrink-wrap it ---

Pam

Pamela S. Chestek
Chestek Legal
PO Box 2492
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-800-8033
pamela at chesteklegal.com
www.chesteklegal.com
Board Certified by the NC State Bar's
Board of Legal Specialization in Trademark Law