Many means a significant percentage of the total. That makes your statement false. License transfer restrictions were only in the realm of million dollar corporate sales. All physical game floppies and cds were legally resold.
Resale certificates are for tax savings, not legality. Anyone could and did sell their games. It’s the law.
"Over a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court first articulated the “first sale doctrine” in copyright law, under which a copyright owner’s exclusive right to control the ownership or transfer of a lawfully made copy of copyrighted content is exhausted after the owner’s first sale of that copy. In that case, the copyright owner sold books to wholesalers with a printed notice announcing that any retailer who sold the book for less than $1.00 was engaging in copyright infringement. The Supreme Court refused to enforce the restriction against a retail department store, which had purchased the books from a wholesaler, holding that the copyright owner’s exclusive right to control distribution of the book applied only to the first sale of copies of the book to the wholesaler.
Subsequently, Congress codified the first sale doctrine in the Copyright Act. In its current form, §109(a) of the Copyright Act allows the owner of a particular copy of a copyrighted work to sell or otherwise dispose of his copy without the copyright owner’s authorization."
Many means a significant percentage of the total. That makes your statement false. License transfer restrictions were only in the realm of million dollar corporate sales. All physical game floppies and cds were legally resold.
Used game stores legally existed.
Yes because they were licensed resellers.
Resale certificates are for tax savings, not legality. Anyone could and did sell their games. It’s the law.
"Over a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court first articulated the “first sale doctrine” in copyright law, under which a copyright owner’s exclusive right to control the ownership or transfer of a lawfully made copy of copyrighted content is exhausted after the owner’s first sale of that copy. In that case, the copyright owner sold books to wholesalers with a printed notice announcing that any retailer who sold the book for less than $1.00 was engaging in copyright infringement. The Supreme Court refused to enforce the restriction against a retail department store, which had purchased the books from a wholesaler, holding that the copyright owner’s exclusive right to control distribution of the book applied only to the first sale of copies of the book to the wholesaler.
Subsequently, Congress codified the first sale doctrine in the Copyright Act. In its current form, §109(a) of the Copyright Act allows the owner of a particular copy of a copyrighted work to sell or otherwise dispose of his copy without the copyright owner’s authorization."
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=455c0b5a-e31e-470e-ad33-1803699b5035
https://copyrightalliance.org/education/copyright-law-explained/limitations-on-a-copyright-owners-rights/first-sale-exceptions-copyright/