A while back, we reported on a garage door opener manufacturer claiming that a third party replacement product violated the DMCA law. Skylink had developed a universal opener that circumvented Chamberlain's garage door opener's security mechanism and Chamberlain placed a lawsuit against Syklink as a result. The federal judge dismissed the case as Chamberlain did not state that third party products could not be used with its product. The owner has a legitimate expectation that they will be able to open the door should hey misplace their remote control or it fails to operate. This is much the
same as one is entitled have a CD/DVD backup should they lose or damage their
original disc.
The garage door opener company was not the only non-entertainment company to have a go at the DMCA as Lexmark tried suing a rival for creating replacement toner cartridges that work in Lexmark printers. If the DMCA is allowed to be abused like this, it could mean that every product maker could block other companies from making replacement compatible parts. The Judges' ruling does however allow product makers to prevent third party replacements as long as they state this on their product. The same goes with copy protected CDs and DVDs requiring
labelling to indicate that they are copy protected.
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Chamberlain, a company that makes home security products including garage door openers, had sued Skylink, a competitor that sold a universal opener that worked with Chamberlain's products. Chamberlain argued that the Skylink product's ability to tap into its doors' digital security mechanisms violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The case was widely viewed as an extreme example of the application of digital copyright law and was held up by critics of the DMCA as a reason the law should be scaled back. On Thursday, a federal judge said the law didn't apply, because Chamberlain had not publicly stated in any way that other companies' products couldn't be used with the door. "A homeowner has a legitimate expectation that he or she will be able to access the garage even if the original transmitter is misplaced or malfunctions," Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer wrote in her opinion. The decision, while giving some heart to DMCA critics, appeared to shed little light on how broadly a law originally designed to protect digital products can be applied. Lawyers had looked to this case, along with one in which printer maker Lexmark sued a rival that created replacement toner cartridges for Lexmark's machines, as a way to clarify whether the DMCA could let companies block interoperable products. Some analysts had warned that if supported, Chamberlain's and Lexmark's arguments could let every product maker block third-party replacement components. Ford Motor could require drivers to buy Ford tires and Ford windshield wipers, for example. The judge's reliance in her decision on Chamberlain's lack of notice to consumers left that core issue untouched, however. Lawyers said that the ruling would allow Chamberlain to create a new variety of garage door opener, include a label that says it can't be used with other products--just as a DVD says it can't be copied--and then try to block a company such as Skylink again. "If someone was to make it clear on their site and packaging (that interoperability was not allowed), putting a consumer on notice, then this decision wouldn't apply per se," said Gwen Hinze, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a consistent critic of the DMCA. "Then it would shift to the wider argument." A representative for Chamberlain could not immediately be reached for comment. |
This just gives another reason on why the DMCA legislation should be ditched or replaced. Currently the DMCA is law is only being used to help the already profitable companies and is doing more harm to consumers. Even Kazaa have managed to use the DMCA to force Google to remove all links to
Kazaa lite . I would not be too surprised if advertisement companies are next to try experimenting with DMCA to block companies from developing products that prevent its pop-ups, banners and so on. All it takes is for them to implement some trivial copy protection in their Ad's JavaScript and try to protect it with the DMCA should someone try to 'circumvent' it.
Discuss about copy protection issues in our Copy Protection Discussion Forum.
Source: CNET Technology News
