[greatreorx]

"If they condemn the sales, they strike down the first sale doctrine "

...only for goods manufactured outside the US and not authorized for import to the US by the manufacturer. Most electronic goods in the US that are made overseas are also authorized for US import. I bought my iPhone directly from Apple. Even if the Supreme Court rules against the sales in this case, I will be able to resell my iPhone because Apple authorized its import...they were the ones that imported it.

[smsm42]

Unless the phone was first bought overseas. This may have big implications for second-hand markets like ebay as you can not really be sure where a good sold on ebay was manufactured, which countries it was authorized to import and who has the authority to authorize that. In fact, with such decision, each foreign item becomes potentially a problem for the buyer unless he has a proven certificate from original manufacturer authorizing import into the country the buyer is resident in. This of course would be a huge boon for these manufacturers as they would be able to charge extra for such certificates and suppress secondary markets. But it would not be as good for the consumers.