The First Sale Doctrine

This doctrine embodies a limitation on the distribution right. Under this doctrine, a person who purchases a copy of a copyrighted work can sell, lend or lease that copy without the permission of the copyright owner. This provision does not apply to the rental or leasing of sound recordings. However, sound recordings can be rented or leased for non-profit purposes by a non-profit library or educational institution. This provision responds to concerns that the first sale doctrine would enable people to rent a record and copy it on to a blank tape thereby displacing record sales.