Groups Ask Court To Protect Sales of Used Books, CDs, DVDs, Software

A pivotal court case being heard in the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals, San Francisco, could determine whether consumers will continue to have the right to buy and to sell used items like books, music, movies or software programs.

In the case, Thomas S. Vernor vs. Autodesk, six public-interest and advocacy groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking that the traditional rights of consumers be upheld. Vernor, who sells items on eBay, was charged with copyright infringement by Autodesk, which objected to his selling some copies of the company's software he had purchased from a third party. Autodesk said Vernor couldn't resell the items because they were licensed, not sold. Vernor won his case in 2008 in the U.S. District Court, Seattle, and Autodesk appealed. The groups filing the brief, Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association, Association of College and Research Libraries, Association of Research Libraries, Consumer Federation of America and U.S. PIRG, said that a decision in favor of Autodesk would overturn more than a century of copyright law while harming consumers.