# Legality of "Southeast-Asia Restricted Edition" textbooks being sold in the U.S.?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-southeast-asia-restricted-edition-textbooks-being-sold-in-the-u-s/369181>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 18, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-southeast-asia-restricted-edition-textbooks-being-sold-in-the-u-s/369181 "2006-08-18T02:27:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-southeast-asia-restricted-edition-textbooks-being-sold-in-the-u-s/369181/1 "2006-08-18T02:27:15Z")

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In researching this topic I was furnished with [this link](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=295219) from Google Answers that asks essentially the same question I want to know: Is it legal for sellers to sell these books marked “For Sale only in India, etc.” within the U.S.?

The link is very exhaustive and difficult to parse completely, but it says in closing:

> [@Google Answers](#):
>
> Therefore, the current state of US law is that international versions  
> of textbooks that are lawfully manufactured under the authorization of  
> the copyright holder can be legally imported by a party that has  
> acquired them outside of the US, for subsequent resale within the US.  
> While the copyright holder can require that their license holders (the  
> international printers) do not themselves ship manufactured copies  
> directly for public distribution in the US without prior consent, the  
> copyright holder cannot prevent a party from purchasing lawfully  
> manufactured copies outside the US, and importing them into the US for  
> sale or otherwise disposal.

However, this thread was posted 10 Jan 2004. Can anyone verify/confirm if the Google Answers are indeed correct (and still current) on this issue?

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-southeast-asia-restricted-edition-textbooks-being-sold-in-the-u-s/369181/2 "2006-08-18T02:55:03Z")

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AFAIK, nothing has changed.