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April 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take a second crack at reconciling two apparently contradictory provisions in the Copyright Act: one that permits buyers to resell goods without worrying about permission from U.S. copyright holders, and another that controls the importation of copyrighted material into the United States. It may sound arcane, but this is a hugely-consequential issue. The case in which the Supreme Court granted certiorari involves a Thai grad student reselling used foreign-manufactured books on eBay, but the high court's ultimate ruling will profoundly affect the approximately $63 billion "gray market" business.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments today in a case called Kirtsaeng v. Wiley, and their final decision could help shape the future of "first sale," a legal doctrine that underpins the right to sell, lend, or give away the things you buy, even if those things contain copyrighted elements.

I actually read another article about this somewhere (wish I had saved it now.) In the article I read a law professor or a lawyer or someone like that said that it isn't things manufactured overseas but things originally bought overseas. The example used in the article I read was if you bought an iPod in China because it was cheaper then tried to sell it here for a profit then the "first sale" doctrine doesn't protect you. However, if you buy the iPod here in the United States, even if it was made in China, then you'd be protected. Not sure how accurate/unbiased the article I read was as I don't remember who it was by but I do think that this article sounds a little biased and like they are trying to push two sperate issues together ("first sale" and the controversial digital licences issue). Just my take though.

Americans may feel that the nation is run by a bunch of clowns in Washington, but millions of citizens in Brazil went to the polls Sunday to elect an actual clown to congress. Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva - known by the clown name Tiririca, which means "grumpy" - received more than 1.3 million votes, more than double that of the next closest candidate, Reuters reported Monday. Tiririca ran for a congressional seat in Sao Paulo state, the nation's most populous, using the campaign slogan "It can't get any worse." He offered no promises other than reporting back to constituents how their representatives spent their time. "What does a congressman do? The truth is I don't know, but vote for me and I'll tell you," he said in campaign advertisements. Public prosecutors had tried to prevent the clown from running because of "evidence that he is illiterate," Reuters said. Tiririca appeared at public events wearing a blond wig and silly outfit. Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved.