[TriLUG] DRMed coffee maker?

[Igor Partola via TriLUG]

> The coffee maker is not a work protected by copyright.

I don't know about the coffee maker, but the coffee "cup" (the little
plastic thingy with the ground coffee in it) is.

I can kind of see where they are coming from. They are saying "We made this
coffee system to our own specifications. We also make a proprietary blend
of coffee brewed using our proprietary cup method. We don't want third
party manufacturer to sell cheaper and presumably inferior product to be
used in our devices. Oh, and we don't want to lose money to these
manufacturers either."

Now, what I don't understand is why don't do they patent the "brewing
coffee from a small plastic cup" technology and use that to hold onto their
IP instead. That seems like what patents are for exactly. They invented a
new method of brewing coffee, so they should be able to patent it. Then
they can license or not license the technology of making these cups to
others. Copyright here makes it that much more complicated.

Having said all that, I find Keurigs to be very silly. They make subpar
coffee which costs a whole lot more than buying beans and making it in a
drip grinder. The DRM thing makes them even more annoying. I have one in my
household (not my purchase) but almost never use it and would not buy
another one.

Igor

On Wed, May 13, 2015 at 11:21 AM, Wes Garrison via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org
> wrote:

> >1201(a) "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that
> >effectively controls access *to a work protected under this title*."
>
> That's the rub, isn't it?
>
> The coffee maker is not a work protected by copyright.
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