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GESMER UPDEGROVE LLP
TECHNOLOGY LAW BULLETIN
Vol. XII, No. 2
Winter 2005
COURT PRESERVES AFTERMARKET COMPETITION UNDER THE DMCA -- THE LEXMARK CASE
Opponents of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 have long feared that it could be used as a weapon by manufacturers to prevent aftermarket competition by third-party makers of replacement parts. In the Sixth Circuit decision discussed in this article, printer company Lexmark tried -- unsuccessfully -- to use the DMCA to prevent the manufacture of third-party printer cartridges compatible with its own printers. While the decision ends the litigation, it may lay the groundwork for what could be the next battle in this war.
COURT LIMITS REACH OF DMCA -- THE CHAMBERLAIN CASE
In another article on manufacturers' attempts to use the DMCA to stave off aftermarket competition, the TLB examines the Federal Circuit Appeals Court's rejection of a DMCA claim brought to stop the manufacture of remote controls compatible with the plaintiff's garage door openers. Here, the Court took a different approach than the Lexmark Court, which could spell a very different future for manufacturer's efforts to wield the DMCA as a weapon against competition.
Events and Announcements
Read about John Ellis, the firm's new tax partner, who joins us from Seyfarth Shaw, and about Patrick Jones and Sam Kim, two long-time Gesmer Updegrove lawyers who recently became partners at the firm. Also, catch up on roundtables, briefings and meetings in which Gesmer Updegrove lawyers have been involved. You can link to this information and more at http://www.gesmer.com/whatsnew/
Please send any questions or comments to Joseph Laferrera
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