first sale doctrine

For Promotional Use Only: Promo CDs freed for resale

"For Promotional Use Only – Not for Resale."  If you’ve ever listened to a promotional CD or LP (yes, they still do exist), then you’ve probably seen that phrase stamped on the front label.  By stamping the phrase on promotional records, record companies believed that the copyright laws were being preserved.  Copyright holders have battled in court to try and limit  the scope of the ‘first sale doctrine,’ which gives us the right to resell the physical copies of albums we own(and books and other copyrighted works), so that it wouldn't apply to promotional records.