Although Quality King does not directly address the issue, the
publishers also might be able to use copyright laws to prevent imports
if the texts are printed overseas.

Lee


Lee Burgunder
Orfalea College of Business
Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo, CA  93407

-----Original Message-----
From: Terence.Lau [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 6:28 PM
To: ALSBTALK
Subject: Re: gray market textbooks?


There are also copyright laws and the ability of a copyright holder to
use
U.S. Customs to stop importation.  The Supreme Court has expressly held
that the first sale doctrine permits the practice of re-importing
legitimately purchased products overseas and re-selling in the United
States.  See Quality King Distributors v. L'anza Research International
Inc at http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/96-1470.ZS.html.

It seems the only "remedy" for textbook publishers is a contractual one,
i.e., obligate their distributors overseas to agree not to sell to
someone
who intends to bring their product back to the United States.  Such a
clause would be very difficulty to enforce and might run afoul of
antitrust law.