In Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., 87 USPQ2d 1501 (W.D.Wash. 2008), the Western District of Washington recently held that the unauthorized sale of used software packages on an internet auction site could be permissible under the first-sale doctrine.  The action was brought as a declaratory judgment claim by plaintiff Timothy Vernor, who sought a declaration that his sale of certain used Autodesk software on eBay would not infringe the copyright in the software.  As the court described the facts,  

In 2007, Mr. Vernor bought four authentic, used AutoCAD packages from an office sale at Cardwell/Thomas Associates (“CTA”), a Seattle architecture firm. Mr. Vernor sold three packages on eBay, but each time he put a package up for auction, an exchange of DMCA notices from Autodesk, suspension of the auction by eBay, counter-notices from Mr. Vernor, and reinstatement of the auction followed. When Mr. Vernor attempted to sell the fourth AutoCAD package, Autodesk filed another DMCA notice, and eBay responded by suspending Mr. Vernor's eBay account for one month for repeat infringement. . . .  More...