In December 2018, the US Court of Appeal ruled in favour of US copyright owners, by holding that the sale of digital music files is not protected by the US first sale doctrine, and therefore amounts to copyright infringement. This decision affirms the first instance decision of the Southern District for New York. The judgment could be devastating for the 'second hand' market of digital music in the US, whilst being a victory for copyright owners and record labels alike. Sellers like iTunes can no longer resell digital music under the protection of the first sale doctrine. It will be interesting to see if the European Courts will take the same stance and favour copyright owners also.
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