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A recent action relevant to the lawsuit Lexmark filed against Static Control Components may mean good news for other remanufacturers as well.
The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress has granted a last-minute petition by Static Control to consider exempting computer programs embedded in printers and cartridges from the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, around which the lawsuit centers and the basis for much of Lexmark's case.
Part of the allegation made by Lexmark in the lawsuit was that Static Control's T520/620 chip technology violated the DMCA by providing access to a copyrighted work (in this case, the 520/620's Toner Loading Programs and Printer Engine Programs). But the DMCA was intended to prevent illegal distribution of movies and music over the Internet, not prevent aftermarket competition, Static said. "There are a lot of questions being brought up about this act (DMCA)," said Charles Taylor of Static Control. "We wanted an exemption as it relates to using DMCA legislation to prevent remanufacturing."
While Static's representatives are confident Lexmark's case is without merit, they also wanted to save other remanufacturers from similar litigation in the future, said Taylor. "This may have an effect in this case in the long term," he said. "But it will more likely affect other people filing cases" against other companies in our industry.
To this end, Static Control petitioned the Copyright Office to have printers and cartridges exempted from the DMCA. The Copyright Office considers exemptions to the DMCA every two years -- a period that most recently ended in 2002, which required a petition for exemption to be filed by Dec. 18, 2002. "We had just missed that window of opportunity," Taylor said.
But because of the late filing of the lawsuit (Dec. 30, 2002) and the Copyright Office's determination that "Static Control has set forth sufficient arguments on the merits," it was decided that the petition would be considered, even though the deadline had passed.
Static specifically sought to have three areas exempted from the DMCA. The first deals specifically with our industry's concerns, and the other two extend the same protection to similar classes of products. The main request is to exempt "Computer programs embedded in computer printers and toner cartridges and that control the interoperation and functions of the printer and toner cartridge."
Now that the petition has been accepted, there will be an open comment period from Feb. 24 to March 10, ending at 5 p.m. EST. "The comments will be collected, reviewed and (they) will make a ruling on these comments, " Taylor said.
More information, including the petition from Static Control and the Copyright Office's response, are available at http://www.copyright.gov/1201/
Comments will be accepted at that site between Feb. 24 and March 10, 2003.
Editor's Note: This article is free for use by all remanufacturers for publicity or other purposes. Feel free to post this article on your site or to provide it to your customers, but please credit Recharger Magazine.
