Polk teaches intellectual property law at the University of Pennsylvania's law school. Previous Politech message: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04319.html -Declan --- Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 23:57:42 -0500 Subject: Re: FC: DMCA vs. The Garage Door Opener Content-Type: text/plain; delsp=yes; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v551) From: "R. Polk Wagner" <polkat_private> To: declanat_private Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In-Reply-To: <5.1.1.6.0.20030115215441.01a72ce0at_private> Message-Id: <0B582641-290F-11D7-90A4-0030659ACC66at_private> I don't see the lunacy. The case features patent and various trademark-type claims as well. The DMCA provides one additional (albeit significant) argument - with the allegation being that Skylink is building devices that break whatever protection is wrapped around the code-rolling software. It would seem to have the basic features of what Congress was intending with the DMCA: to make technological protections 'stick'. Further, trying to control a complementary market to one's good (here, replacement door-opener remotes) is a very standard business tactic. And one that is implemented via a number of mechanisms: contracts, technology, and (gasp) intellectual property. The discipline here is provided by the market - if Chamberlain uses its control of the replacement remote market in a way that diminishes the utility (or raises the overall cost) of their goods, then they'll suffer the consequences. (Assuming, of course, that the market for garage-door opening systems is competitive, which seems a safe assumption.) In some cases, it can be more efficient to allow the creator of the original good to control the complementary market; it may allow for better pricing mechanisms, or some quality benefits. In other cases, it's not so good. But in either event, given reasonable competition in the market for the original goods, this will get sorted out -- almost certainly in the consumer's favor. Here, Chamberlain argues that the Skylink remotes 'break' the security features of the garage door system. There are a number of problems with the DMCA. But I'm not sure this is one of them, even if one doubts (as I do) whether this move is smart for Chamberlain's business. Polk ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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