First-sale doctrine lost overseas

Max Hyre writes: "In a scary 4-4 non-decision, the U.S. Supreme court let stand the Ninth Circuit's decision that the First-Sale Doctrine (which says once you buy something, the maker gets no say in what you do with it) only applies to goods made in the U.S. That Omega watch you bought in Switzerland last year? It's yours now—forever. You can't sell it without Omega's permission.

Omega sued Costco for selling its watches for prices below suggested retail, citing a tiny Omega logo on the goods that it said gave it the copyright holders power to control how creative works are distributed. Costco cited the first sale doctrine, which says copyright holders are only entitled to such protection on the first sale of a work. Without such protection, libraries and book resellers couldn't function.

Suppose they filed off the logo?"