There are long standing reciprocal agreements covering copyright and import/export. The kid broke those rules when he started importing books for other people (aka material not covered under "fair use"). The books should have been seized by customs once they hit the border since they didn't have US copyright notification imprinted on the books.
The books should have been seized, but they probably didn't arrive in large enough quantities to trigger any action. If copyright holders want to stamp out graymarket activity they should price their products so as to prevent the potential for markup.
As much as the makeup of the court seems like it would favor the plaintiff in this case, as the article said, such a ruling would turn the US economy on its head. Also, a lot of large corporations are asking the court to overturn the lower court's ruling. Hopefully the high court will see the greater harm in upholding the lower court.
As for our trains, as I understand it, anything made in the US isn't even a problem. The stuff made in China was imported legally by US companies, and should also be covered. Is there even a potential for graymarket activity in the hobby market?
