The
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was enacted recently, making it
possible for various companies to restrict those who imitate their products
“after the market” from creating products that operate in the same way and
perform the same function. This stifles competition on one hand, but prevents
cheap knockoffs on the other.
Chamberlain
Group Inc the world’s biggest garage door opener manufacturing company, has
been looking for redress for DMCA violations in Federal court and Trade Court,
which has various remedial abilities to help deter intellectual property
infringements, especially via import embargos on certain products into the US.
Chamberlain
has pointed to a specific company for making a remote control that operates
with their garage door despite efforts to prevent on-Chamberlain remotes from
working. They hope to be able to
prod the International Trade Court into hefting sanctions on the illicit
company, such that the illegal
controllers will no longer be sold in the United States.
Chamberlain
also points out that the new remotes do not use “rolling code” technology to
ensure the security of homeowner’s garage doors. However, upon further investigation, Chamberlain never
actually issues a copyright for later generations of the security technology,
and the fate of the illicit remotes remains uncertain.