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> It applies to physical goods.

No, there could be something else that applies to physical goods, but it's not the "First Sale Doctrine", which is specifically about limitations in copyright. [0]

If I harvest a generic apple and offer it with a contract stating that the buyer will not allow anyone else to eat the apple, there's no copyright involved, and thus no First Sale Doctrine either.

[0] https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-first-sale-doctr...



To be clear, First Sale Doctrine does apply to physical goods: the doctrine pre-dates copyrighted digital goods. The idea was that a publisher couldn't prevent someone from reselling their paperback copy of a novel after they've read it (for example).

Of course, it in theory could apply to digital goods as well, but most copyrighted digital goods you don't actually buy, you just license. Good luck reselling a Kindle book. You have to strip the DRM first, which, while possible, violates the DMCA.


Case in point where it applied to physical goods : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtsaeng_v._John_Wiley_%26_So....




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