A decision made in lower-court over textbook sales could have far-reaching implications for American museums.

Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, is a legal battle over whether copyrighted books produced abroad can be imported to the U.S. and resold, but it also implicates a section of the copyright law that includes original artworks.

On Oct. 29, oral arguments were heard in the case. Supap Kirtsaeng, a foreign exchange student at Cornell, was sued by textbook publisher John Wiley & Sons for buying their textbooks abroad (cheaply) and reselling them in the U.S.

Kirtsaengin was found guilty of willful infringement in New York federal court, and in August 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found him guilty, too.

Since then, major American museums have filed a brief as “friends of the court,” in support of Kirtsaeng as the case is decided in Supreme Court.

At the center of the case is section 109(a) of the Copyright Act, which enables an owner of a copy to buy, sell, loan or borrow it without getting the permission of the copyright owner. A copy could be an original artwork or one of thousands of books.

“Art museums have long depended on Section 109 of the Copyright Act,” the brief states, “to develop and display their permanent collections and to assemble and present special exhibitions of art … without having to obtain the copyright owner’s permission.”

Museums are backing Kirtsaeng because they fear that they will lose the right to display works of art made abroad, or they will at least be made to jump through hoops to get permissions from copyright holders or heirs of artist estates.