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NEWS: U.S. Supreme Court to Review 'Gray Market' Imports Again




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sunflowerseed



Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Posts: 106
Location: South Texas
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:40 am Reply with quote
It almost sounds as if the law it parallels selling pirated items. To see Target on the list would bring a lot of yard sells in as well wouldn't it all across the USA? I have software licenses for things that say it is mine and I cannot sell it as the disk is a llcense to use it when its valid not to sell to someone else for any reason.

For me anyhow must of the stuff I buy is technically destroyed by the time I use it so I have nothing to sell anyway. How would that affect items like from Hong Kong for anime and all the collectibles from Japan? The one thing I have never understood is how one person can be responsible for a payment that is the total value of their entire enterprise instead of some figure near the price of the items and oh say a 1,000 or 5,000 dollar fine? That price they are seeking is astronomical.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:05 pm Reply with quote
So things are kinda slow at the US Supreme Court these day then? Laughing
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Annf



Joined: 20 Feb 2009
Posts: 578
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:18 pm Reply with quote
Just in case anyone's confused: the issue is importing for resale. Importing single copies for personal use is explicitly permitted in title 17, section 602a(2).
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Catseyetiger



Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Posts: 779
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:42 pm Reply with quote
I only care about single copies for personal use.
many of the anime i love and manga like moon phase it stopped at book #12 in the usa and finished at book 16 in japan i think.
meaning i would want to import and translate the last few books!

same with some of the anime that will never see a release state side.
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Tenbyakugon



Joined: 11 Jan 2012
Posts: 800
Location: Ohio, United States
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:43 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
So things are kinda slow at the US Supreme Court these day then? Laughing


lol AZSB 1070 and PPAC, anyone?
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Kit-Tsukasa



Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 930
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:57 pm Reply with quote
In other words, they want college kids to stop buying imported/resold textbooks and get ripped off by buying them on campus. I see how it is...

To be honest, the damage done by these kind of transactions are actually rather small in the US. This is not India or China where counterfeits and other transactions of the like are vast and at large. The case is basically saying, "let's close all arbitrage loop holes by forcing them shut" rather than trying to establish a "law of one price" globally. The latter is hard and takes time and money, but it fixes the long term problem of people going broke.

Companies complain about these kind of things but when looking at a larger perspective, only a minority are aware of this market and an even greater minority actually use it due to trust barriers.
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streexanime



Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Posts: 78
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:48 pm Reply with quote
I might not be too knowledged on the issue regarding grey markets (looking them up more now), but this sounds less like a copyright issue than it is about a company controlling third party sales.
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Mune



Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 383
Location: Minnesota
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:27 pm Reply with quote
This in all is a dumb law.
I understand it protects the original creator/producer.
But, this kills the second-hand market on these products if they are originally sold from a foreign country.

So, if I import a game for personal use. After looking at it in person, but without opening said game, I decide that I do not want it. I am prohibited from selling it in my country because it is illegal?
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gsilver



Joined: 04 Nov 2007
Posts: 650
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:45 pm Reply with quote
This would be bad news for retail all around. Hobby stores would no longer be able to sell things like figures (with the exception of the few that get licensed), and big box stores would be locked out of many avenues for cheaper goods, resulting in higher prices. Not good at all for the consumer if they block this.
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TJ_Kat



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 422
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:04 pm Reply with quote
If I remember right, it's not specifically importing for resale that's the issue here, it's importing for resale when there's already someone with the rights to sell the product domestically. It's not to protect the original creator/producer, it's to protect the domestic distributor.

Hobby stores would be unaffected because there is no one with the legal rights domestically to the products they're importing to sell.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14889
PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:03 am Reply with quote
TJ_Kat wrote:
If I remember right, it's not specifically importing for resale that's the issue here, it's importing for resale when there's already someone with the rights to sell the product domestically. It's not to protect the original creator/producer, it's to protect the domestic distributor.


That sounds about right. It's like buying Toyota cars in America where those are sold cheaper, then importing those to Japan and selling those for below-market prices with still a profit. It's not the buying and importing; it's the reselling, in large quantities, that would irk Toyota. Collegiates could keep buying and importing cheaper books, just don't resell in large quantities for profit because then that'd be a business, not a personal, operation that's competing against the properly licensed domestic distributor.
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Sailor S





PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:01 am Reply with quote
Mune wrote:

So, if I import a game for personal use. After looking at it in person, but without opening said game, I decide that I do not want it. I am prohibited from selling it in my country because it is illegal?


Not at all, that's perfectly legal. The issue comes if you import 1000 games and sell it in your country.
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StudioToledo



Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 847
Location: Toledo, U.S.A.
PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:53 am Reply with quote
Sailor S wrote:
Mune wrote:

So, if I import a game for personal use. After looking at it in person, but without opening said game, I decide that I do not want it. I am prohibited from selling it in my country because it is illegal?


Not at all, that's perfectly legal. The issue comes if you import 1000 games and sell it in your country.

So in other words, DON'T BE A RESELLER!
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bemused Bohemian



Joined: 09 Jun 2009
Posts: 404
Location: central Mizzou (Moral Oralville)
PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:36 am Reply with quote
China counterfeits a lot of marketable product for eventual resale. Too bad there is no easy way to deter their violations.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5936
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:29 am Reply with quote
Sounds like the guy was running a business selling books undercutting the authorized domestic distributor.

Since he was having his family ship these books to him, one wonders if they were properly declared to U.S. Customs.

Aren't there differences in declarations for things for personal use and things for commercial use.
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