Thursday, October 29, 2015

Car makers can't use the DCMA to keep you from working on your car

The U.S. Copyright Office today issued a ruling to allow vehicle owners to perform vehicle diagnosis, repair and modification without fear of prosecution under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). However, the Copyright Office declined to provide the exemption to third parties who diagnose, repair or modify a vehicle on behalf of the vehicle owner.

Access to a vehicle’s telematics or entertainment system was also specifically excluded from the exemption.

The DMCA was enacted in 1998 and prohibits the circumvention of measures put in place by a copyright owner to protect copyrighted works. The law also includes a provision allowing the Copyright Office to grant exemptions from this anti-circumvention provision, and the exemption for vehicle repair, diagnosis or modification was granted under this provision. A copy of the SEMA comments is available on the Copyright Office website at http://copyright.gov/1201/2015/reply-comments-050115/class%2021/ReplyComments_LongForm_SEMA_Class21.pdf

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