US-CA9 · jury_instructions
9th Cir. Model Jury Instr. (Civil) 17.28
Copyright—Affirmative Defense—First Sale
(17 U.S.C. § 109(a))
The defendant [name] contends that [he] [she] [other pronoun] is not liable for copyright infringement for [reselling] [redistributing] a particular copy of the plaintiff [name]’s copyrighted work because the plaintiff [name] sold or otherwise transferred ownership of that copy. The plaintiff [name] may not claim copyright infringement for subsequent distributions of a copy that it sold or otherwise transferred ownership of. [The defendant [name] may invoke this [“first sale”] defense only if [he] [she] [other pronoun] is an owner of a particular copy of the plaintiff [name]’s copyrighted work, and not a licensee.]
If you find that the defendant [name] was an owner of a particular copy of the plaintiff [name]’s copyrighted work and that the plaintiff [name] sold or otherwise transferred ownership of that particular copy, your verdict should be for the defendant [name] on the plaintiff [name]’s copyright infringement claim.
Provenance
- Source
- ce9.uscourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-20
- Edition
- 2026-08-20
- Content hash
0f1d05de4d3e6a6af114fe34c7b24e92676c179accb69898ded01c89b94a210f
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