Supreme Court of the United States March 9, 1998, 96-1470 (Quality King Distributors, Inc. v. L'Anza Research International, Inc.)

*138Justice Stevens

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Section 106(3) of the Copyright Act of 1976 (Act), 17 U. S. C. § 106(3), gives the owner of a copyright the exclusive right to distribute copies of a copyrighted work. That exclusive right is expressly limited, however, by the provisions of §§ 107 through 120.