The Garage Door Opener Case: Opening the Door to Cross Platform Functionality in the World of Digital Music

• Author: Lewis J. Dolezal, Jr.
• Position: J.D., Capital University Law School, 2005
• Pages: 815-883

Page 815

Introduction

Copyright law embodies the delicate "balance between the interests of authors [in controlling the exploitation of their works] on the one hand, and society's competing interest in the free flow of ideas, information, and commerce on the other hand."¹ As technologies change, so do the laws that preserve the compromise copyright seeks to serve.² Today, complete digital copies of copyrighted works can be widely distributed with minimal time and effort.³ To combat the growing problem of piracy and other infringement that naturally follows new channels of distribution, copyright owners seek to protect their works by implementing technological measures that control access to their works and protect against infringement.⁴ These measures have, at times, been circumvented by users-without regard to the wishes of the copyright owner-to enablePage 816 unfettered use, sometimes fair and other times foul.⁵ Realizing these new challenges, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act⁶ (DMCA) to deal with copyright protection in the digital age.⁷ The anti-circumvention provisions in the Act, which are located at § 1201 (a), are aimed at prohibiting both the use and trafficking of devices that bypass any technological measure employed by a copyright owner that protects access to their work or a right afforded to them under the Copyright Act.⁸

In Chamberlain Group, Inc. v. Skylink Technologies, Inc. ,⁹ the Federal Circuit became only the second appellate court¹⁰ to interpret the reach of § 1201(a)(2).¹¹ Chamberlain Group, Inc. (Chamberlain), manufactured a line of garage door openers, known as the "Security+" product line, which contain an added security device featuring "rolling code" technology.¹² This technological measure is intended to prevent unauthorized opening of the garage door by other devices.¹³ For example, the rolling code would prevent a criminal from programming a traditional universal remote to open a garage door for the purpose of breaking into the home.¹⁴ Essentially, the rolling code authentication process protects access to the copyrighted program that operates the garage door unit.¹⁵ Skylink Technologies, Inc. (Skylink) manufactured universal remote controls for garage door opener systems.¹⁶ Skylink developed a method that bypassed the rolling code technology and offered a remote that could operate the "Security+" garage door opener system.¹⁷ Chamberlain brought a claimPage 817 against Skylink under the DMCA because the circumvention accessed its copyrighted program.¹⁸

The central issue before the court was whether Skylink's universal remote violated the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions by operating the Chamberlain "Security+" garage door opener system.¹⁹ In sum, the Federal Circuit held that Skylink's universal remote did not violate the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions because Chamberlain failed to show (1) a lack of authorization, an essential element of a § 1201 (a) claim, and (2) a reasonable connection between access and protection, meaning there was no nexus between the circumvention and an infringement of a protected right.²⁰ This decision is important because it represents a significant change in interpretation, whereby the court limited the character and reach of the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.²¹ The court concluded that § 1201 provides a theory of liability as opposed to a property right, where only the latter is capable of supporting a cause of action independent from an infringement claim under the Copyright Act.²² Furthermore, the court limited the reach of the provision by supplanting a nexus requirement that must be satisfied by showing a reasonable relationship between the circumvention and infringement.²³ These principles limit both how and when the provisions may be used.

The DMCA provisions at issue must be extended no further than necessary to protect copyright interests and allow for legitimate public access. The Chamberlain decision looked beyond a plain reading of § 1201 to save the DMCA from producing precarious results while preserving the essential balance between copyright ownership and public access. The court's holding will, among other things, affect manufacturers of aftermarket products, like Skylink, and the world of digital media. This Note will examine how the ruling will affect trends in digital music, particularly the availability of § 1201(a)(2) as a tool to restrict the use of downloaded music files and how that will in turn influence the struggle for platform in the digital music market.

In order to fully understand the development of this controversy, Part I of this Note will first examine the statutory development of copyright law, followed by the protections and rights current law affords both owners andPage 818 the public. Continuing with the statutory background, Part I will also discuss the enactment of the DMCA and its anti-circumvention provisions. Next, this Note will detail several cases that predate the Chamberlain decision, all of which provide contrary results. Part II will discuss the facts of the case, its procedural posture, and the issues decided by the court. Part III will provide an analysis of the opinion and the consequences that will inevitably follow. Finally, Part IV will conclude with the significance of the Chamberlain decision as it relates to digital media, particularly digital music. This section will demonstrate the implications of the decision in the context of digital music.

I Background

On its most fundamental level, copyright law seeks to protect original works of authorship in the furtherance of "Science and useful Arts."²⁴ Just as the scope of protected works has grown,²⁵ so too have the myriad of laws and conventions that govern copyrights.²⁶ Two major events have shaped the contours of copyright law: the invention of the printing press and the development of the Internet.²⁷ The following discussion leading up to the DMCA is by no means a complete historical review, but rather a snapshot meant to impress upon the reader a general understanding of the extent of protection afforded to creators, and the evolution of how those rights have been allocated between such owners and the public.

A Statutory Development of Copyright Law

Before the printing press, very few laws regulated the reproduction of works.²⁸ The printing press's capacity for mass production of text necessitated the regulation to protect that text, which led to copyright protection.²⁹ The earliest system of copyright regulation began in sixteenth century England with the Stationers' Company.³⁰ This group of artisansPage 819 assigned amongst themselves the right to publish specific manuscripts.³¹ The increasing availability of the printing press, however, spurred competition, which threatened the Stationers' control and led to the first government intervention requiring all works to be published with a Stationers' copyright.³²

The most significant law in the history of copyright would be enacted in 1710.³³ The Statute of Anne switched the focus from the publisher to the author by granting the author exclusive rights in the work for a fourteen-year period, which began on the date of first publication.³⁴ The statute also introduced the first formality of registration by requiring the author to deposit several copies of the work at official libraries.³⁵

When the United States was founded, the desire to protect rights was still considered important and thus was included in the Constitution.³⁶ Early copyright law was limited in the scope of protection and the works that could be protected.³⁷ As time progressed and more types of works were developed, the scope of copyright law also expanded to encompass these creative works, including...