That is changing, though. To the despair of the textbook publishers who are still trying to block such sales, the reimporting of American texts from overseas has become far easier in recent years, thanks both to Internet sites that offer instant access to foreign book prices, and to a 1998 Supreme Court ruling that federal copyright law does not protect American manufacturers from having the products they arranged to sell overseas at a discount shipped back for sale in the United States.
Before the Supreme Court decision, Americans could not take advantage of the discounts abroad without violating the copyright law.
Now, however, "gray market" sales are taking off on campuses.