The Ninth Circuit's decision in Omega v Costco, denying Costco an international exhaustion copyright infringement defense.

First paragraph:

In this opinion, we address whether the Supreme Court’s

decision in Quality King Distributors, Inc. v. L’anza Research

International, Inc., 523 U.S. 135 (1998), requires us to overrule

our precedents that allow a defendant in a copyright

infringement action to claim the “first sale doctrine” of 17

U.S.C. § 109(a) as a defense only where the disputed copies

of a copyrighted work were either made or previously sold in

the United States with the authority of the copyright owner.

Plaintiff-Appellant Omega, S.A. (Omega) filed claims for

infringing distribution and importation under 17 U.S.C.

§§ 106(3) and 602(a) in response to Defendant-Appellee

Costco Wholesale Corporation’s (Costco) unauthorized sale

of authentic, imported Omega watches bearing a design registered

at the U.S. Copyright Office. The district court granted

summary judgment to Costco on the basis of the first sale

doctrine, and awarded attorney’s fees. We have jurisdiction

pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse.