It sounds like a goofy, legalistic concept, but the Right of First Sale is a huge part of our economy, most especially at the individual level.
The original publisher of a book, for example, can set its wholesale price, and determine in what stores it can be sold. But after that, its right to control future resales of that book (on eBay, at a flea market, at the local Goodwill store) are nil. After the first sale, that product is owned by an individual who can do what he wants with it, so long as it doesn't violate copyright.
The same applies for DVDs. For clothing. For cars. For houses.
But that's now under challenge before the Supreme Court, with a Federal Court having already ruled that the right of First Sale doesn't apply to things produced outside the US. Not only does that put a huge kink into the system as it is (can Toyota now restrict your right to resell your car, or for what price, or whether it should get a cut of the deal?), but it's a step toward abolishing the Right of First Sale altogether. Which manufacturers / publishers / studios would love to see happen, but which I suspect the public would be pretty unhappy about. Once it realized what had happened.
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Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril Jennifer Waters's Consumer Confidential
The U.S. Supreme Court will rule this term on case that will determine if it’s legal for you to resell products you bought in America but were produced abroad.
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We are getting to the point where we own nothing everything is 'leased' or 'licensed' to us by corporate overlords.
"I owe my soul to the company store …" Pretty much.