In Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Docket No. 11-697, Opinion entered March 19, 2013)PDF, the Supreme Court held that the “first sale” doctrine does indeed cover licensed works produced outside the U.S. and then brought back within its boundaries for subsequent sales. That is, if a person obtains a tangible copy of a protected work abroad, that person may then sell that copy anywhere in the world without infringing on the original rightsholder’s rights.