The first sale exception is what allows consumers to give copies of copyrighted works that they own to a friend, throw them in the garbage, sell them at a flea market etc. and art galleries to publicly display paintings without paying or getting permission from the copyright owner of the work to display the work.

The first-sale doctrine creates a basic exception to the copyright holder's distribution right. Once the work is lawfully sold or even transferred gratuitously, the copyright owner's interest in the material object in which the copyrighted work is embodied is exhausted. The owner of the material object can then dispose of it as they see fit.

The “first sale” doctrine is an exception to copyright protection that allows you to sell a second-hand copy of a copyrighted work without paying royalties to the author or receiving permission to sell it. An example of a sale protected by the first sale doctrine is the sale of a second-hand print copy of a book.

The first sale exception does not apply to licensed copies of a copyrighted work. It only applies to copies that are sold. Under the Copyright Act, the first sale exception applies only to the “owner of a particular copy.”

Under the first sale doctrine (section 109 of the Copyright Act), ownership of a physical copy of a copyright-protected work permits lending, reselling, disposing, etc. of the item, but it does not permit reproducing the material, publicly displaying or performing it, or otherwise engaging in any of the acts reserved for the copyright holder, because the transfer of the physical copy does not include transfer of the copyright rights to the work.