미국 판례에서의 디지털 콘텐츠 및 병행수입에 대한 최초판매원칙 적용에 관한 검토

Whether the first sale doctrine could be applied to digital works is one of the most principle issues in the digital environment. It is thought that if it is possible to apply technology protection measure which allows just transferees to use the digital contents transferred, excluding the transferors, the first sale doctrine should be applied to digital contents. In the U.S. courts do not have a clear standard regarding whether the first sale doctrine should be applied to every case. The Redigi court rejected the first sale doctrine for the digital contents, while the Kirtsaeng court adopted the doctrine for the parallel importation, and the European Court of Justice acknowledged the doctrine regarding the software. In especial, in Kirtsaeng case, the first sale doctrine provision was applied, being given priority over the importation provision. Therefore, in Redigi case, the first sale doctrine should have been applied to the digital contents. Also, it is thought that if the first sale doctrine is applied to digital contents, consumers could have more choices in enjoying digital contents and the competition between contents would be activated.