Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, S. A.

Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, S. A.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 8, 2010 Decided December 13, 2010
Full case name	Costco Wholesale Corporation v. Omega, S. A.
Citations	562 U.S. 40 (more) 131 S. Ct. 565; 178 L. Ed. 2d 470; 96 U.S.P.Q.2d 2025
Decision	[The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court. Opinion]
Case history
Prior	541 F.3d 982 (9th Cir. 2008); cert. granted, 559 U.S. 1066 (2010).
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Case opinion
Per curiam
Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
Copyright Act of 1976

Omega S. A. v. Costco Wholesale Corp.
Court	United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Full case name	Omega S. A. v. Costco Wholesale Corporation
Decided	September 3, 2008
Citation	541 F.3d 982
Case history
Prior action	Appeal from C.D. Cal. (2007 WL 7029735)
Subsequent actions	Affirmed by an equally divided Supreme Court, No. 08-1423, 562 U.S. 40 (2010).
Court membership
Judges sitting	Barry G. Silverman, Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Milan D. Smith, Jr.
Case opinions
Majority	Smith, joined by Rawlinson, Silverman

Omega S. A. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 541 F.3d 982 (9th Cir. 2008), was a case decided by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that held that in copyright law, the first-sale doctrine does not act as a defense to claims of infringing distribution and importation for unauthorized sale of authentic, imported watches that bore a design registered in the Copyright Office.^[1] It is contrasted with Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.^[2]