WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday said U.S. copyright holders cannot block the resale inside the country of products they make elsewhere, a major case affecting the annual importation of tens of billions of dollars of gray market goods.

By a 6-3 vote, the country's highest court said the so-called "first sale doctrine" applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad.

(This version of the story corrects the headline and first paragraph.)

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Eric Beech)