At the most basic level, copyright law confers a set of exclusive rights to a copyright holder. This includes the right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, and publicly display copyrighted material including films and videos. (Title 17, United States Code, Section 106). With this understanding of the copyright holder's rights, it is often difficult to understand the rights of those who purchase a copy of copyrighted material. While it may seem that the rights of a copyright owner are all-encompassing, Congress has placed some limitations on these exclusive rights. One such exclusion is the first sale doctrine. While this exemption is limited in its focus under copyright law, it is important to understand.
First Sale Doctrine Defined
The first sale doctrine entitles those who purchase a legal copy of a copyrighted work “without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession” (Title 17, United States Code, Section 109(a)). First sale doctrine provides for those who purchase a copyrighted work such as a film or video to have the ability to not only watch the movie, but it gives the purchaser the ability to resell the DVD or Blu Ray disc or lend the particular copy they legally obtained to another person for their use (Title 17, United States Code, Section 109). It also allows for a person who has legally purchased a copy of copyrighted material such as a film or video to rent the copy to other people. What is interesting about the first sale doctrine is that the person who leases or rents a copy of copyrighted content in question does not enjoy these rights because those rights are reserved for the first owner of the material. This means a person who rents a copy of a copyrighted film or video would not be able to re-rent it to someone else under the first sale doctrine.
Why is this important for library professionals to understand?
The need to own a legally obtained copy of copyrighted content is important to the execution of the first sale doctrine. As libraries continue to move to digital content and in particularly digitally licensed content, the first sale doctrine does not apply as the library does not own a copy of the copyrighted content but instead, is obtaining access through a license. As libraries continue to build video-on-demand and/or streaming collections through library-licensed subscriptions offered by third-party vendors, libraries will have to understand the terms of the license and how it applies to how materials (including films and videos) can be accessed and lent.
Library professionals must be aware of how the first sale doctrine applies to films and videos, as well as, other copyrighted material. As libraries continue to move away from purchasing physical copies of copyrighted material and instead obtain licenses to access this same content digitally, moving forward, libraries will need to consider how they intend to utilize their collection of licensed digital content. The first sale doctrine does not allow libraries to lend out these licensed materials because the library does not own a copy of it, in essence, instead the license dictates how it can be used. As collections of licensed or leased digital content in libraries grow, there is a need to reimagine the first sale doctrine.
If you'd like to learn more, check out our information on public performance rights.