Copyright First-Sale Doctrine Not Applicable To Computer Crimes

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected the contention that the first-sale doctrine provided a defense to criminal violation of the copyright laws by the purchaser of copyrighted material. United States v. Harrison, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 15096.

Harrison was convicted of selling Microsoft certificates of authenticity (COAs) that Microsoft packages with software to ensure that a particular copy of Microsoft's product is authentic. Each copy has a numeric key that activates a Microsoft program. Harrison bought stand-alone certificates and then resold them to individuals to activate pirated copies of Microsoft's programs.

After the district court precluded his "first-sale doctrine" defense, Harrison pled guilty to two counts of trafficking in illicit labels in violation of 18 U.S.C.S. § 2318. The statute forbids "knowingly traffic[ing] in—a counterfeit label or illicit label affixed to, enclosing, or accompanying, or designed to be affixed to,