Judge Rules Reselling Digital Goods a Copyright Violation

You don't own the music you buy online

A federal judge is declaring as unlawful a one-of-a-kind website enabling the online sale of pre-owned digital music files.

ReDigi, which opened in late 2011, provides a platform to buy and sell used MP3s that were once purchased lawfully through iTunes.

The case weighed the so-called first-sale doctrine, the legal theory that people in lawful possession of copyright material have the right to resell it. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan, ruling in a suit brought by Vivendi's Capitol Records, said the doctrine did not apply to digital goods.