Quality King Distributors, Inc. v. L'anza Research Int'l, Inc., 523 U.S. 135, 20 (1998)

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154

QUALITY KING DISTRIBUTORS, INC. v. L'ANZA RESEARCH INT'L, INC.

Ginsburg, J., concurring

consistent with the position taken by the Solicitor General in this litigation, they shed no light on the proper interpretation of a statute that was enacted in 1976.31

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed.

It is so ordered.

Justice Ginsburg, concurring.

This case involves a "round trip" journey, travel of the copies in question from the United States to places abroad, then back again. I join the Court's opinion recognizing that we do not today resolve cases in which the allegedly infringing imports were manufactured abroad. See W. Patry, Copyright Law and Practice 166-170 (1997 Supp.) (commenting that provisions of Title 17 do not apply extraterritorially unless expressly so stated, hence the words "lawfully made under this title" in the "first sale" provision, 17 U. S. C. § 109(a), must mean "lawfully made in the United States"); see generally P. Goldstein, Copyright § 16.0, pp. 16:1-16:2 (2d ed. 1998) ("Copyright protection is territorial. The rights granted by the United States Copyright Act extend no farther than the nation's borders.").

31 We also note that in 1991, when the first of the five agreements was signed, the Third Circuit had already issued its opinion in Sebastian Int'l, Inc. v. Consumer Contacts (PTY) Ltd., 847 F. 2d 1093 (1988), adopting a position contrary to that subsequently endorsed by the Executive Branch.

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