DECISON THAT OPENS DOORS

A bit of a belated story from the IPKat. CE Pro reports that the US Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from Chamberlain Group, the makers of garage door openers. Chamberlain Group brought an action against Skylink, the makers of universal garage door transmitters, claiming that Skylink had infringed its rights under the DMCA which protected the copyrighted software that operated its transmitter. Chamberlain’s claim was dismissed by both the Illinois District Court and the Federal Circuit and by refusing to hear an appeal, the Supreme Court has made it clear that it has nothing to add to the lower courts’ decisions.

The IPKat thinks this is quite right. Software to operate machinery isn’t the sort of copyright material that the DMCA is prepared to protect.

More doors of note here and here