Good question A bunch of comments on Apple Adds Still More DRM to iPod Shuffle - The Value Chain Again

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Date: March 15, 2009 7:27:55 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] A bunch of comments on Apple Adds Still More DRM to  
iPod Shuffle - The Value Chain Again

Dave -

On what basis would Apple be able to extract a royalty?  There is  
likely no patent, no copyright, no trade secret here.  Reverse  
engineering should be quite simple - just take apart the earphones and  
measure the various electrical properties.

There doesn't even seem to be a rationale for Apple to pursue DMCA  
remedies - for that you need "copyright" rights on something, perhaps  
microcode.

I must be missing something here on this one.  This is just a small  
barrier to entry of the sort that every company tries to erect  
wherever it can - like the non-standardized power plugs on nearly all  
non-Apple laptops, which are used to extract extra profit, but are  
hardly illegal uses of monopoly power.

- David

David Farber wrote:
> The real issue is will the earphone venders have to py a royalty to  
> Apple for usng their interface?
> djf
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Ari Ollikainen <ari () olteco com>
> Date: March 15, 2009 12:40:53 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   A bunch of comments on Apple Adds Still More  
> DRM to iPod Shuffle - The Value Chain Again
>
>    Add to all that a touch of reality:
>
>    <http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/ipod-shuffle-friendly-headphones-with-inline-control-coming.ars 
> >
>
>    I happen to like my 3rd Gen shuffle ( I needed new earphones  
> anyway...).
>
>
>                                    - - -
>
> "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick  
> themselves
> up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."    --Winston Churchill
>
>
>
>
>
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