The USA Supreme Court, as well as international courts, were pulled in to answer the following question:
QUESTION PRESENTED
Whether it is a permissible "repair" of a patented invention to refurbish it once the invention has completed its function and been voluntarily destroyed.
In the Supreme Court of the United States
No. 01-1376
FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD., CROSS-PETITIONER
v.
JAZZ PHOTO CORPORATION, ET AL.
If someone invents something disposable, and you don't dispose of it, have you violated a patent? If you fix your Ford, can Ford sue you for copyright infringement if it was "not Ford's intent" that you fix it?The money Fuji (and other "friends") spent chasing this to the Supreme Court (to lose) would be funny except that they won in other countries, and in fact they won in the USA Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
What's next, a EULA license to use a wrench? "before opening the package with this hammer, check the box that you agree you won't resell the hammer"?
Spooky.
Refurbishing and Recycling should go together, complement each other. Can't we all get along?
From Mexico 2009 May |
From Big Secret Monitor Factories - Legitimate Reuse vs. "E-waste" |
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