Remember that case we told you about a few months ago where UMG claimed that it was illegal for recipients of promo CDs to re-sell them or even to throw them away? Well, a judge disagreed, and held the the “first sale” doctrine. Liberation Day for Promo CDs: Victory in UMG v. Augusto:
In its ruling (PDF), the district court found that the initial recipients of “promo CDs” own them, notwithstanding “not for resale” labels. The court rejected the notion that these labels create a “license,” concluding that the CDs are gifts. According to the opinion, “UMG gives the Promo CDs to music industry insiders, never to be returned. … Nor does the licensing label require the recipient to provide UMG with any benefit to retain possession.” (The court also found that federal postal laws relating to “unordered merchandise” establish that promo CDs are gifts to their recipients.)
So there you have it. If anybody wants to buy a bunch of crappy CDs (cheap!), we can hook you up…
thanks for that. i always wondered how the major labels would contend with the selling of promo copies. in many cases one can get the promo copy a month in advance of the cd’s release. it was always strange to me that the labels were about fighting illegal downloading, but didn’t seem to care about promo copies. finally now the labels have taken a stance. and they lost to boot. that’s great.