News

U.S. Judge Rules Against Digital Music Resales

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan ruled against the sale of "used" digital music in a case against the reseller ReDigi on Monday. The judge stated "the first-sale defense is limited to material items, like records, that the copyright owner put into the stream of commerce." ReDigi's business model was based on users' ability to sell digital music content. After a sale, ReDigi deleted the original owner's copy via their cloud storage.

Music label Capitol Records took issue and brought ReDigi to court claiming the company was making way for copyright infringment. Judge Sullivan agreed, pointing out that users can purchase a digital file and make copies for personal use before reselling the file, and that the process of the sale creates copies as well.

Amazon patented a digital resale market, including music, in 2009. It was approved in February.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip.