court reached this conclusion in part on the rationale that a broad interpretation of the anti-
circumvention provisions to prohibit all forms of unauthorized access, whether or not protected
copyright rights were thereby implicated, would be tantamount to “ignoring the explicit
immunization of interoperability from anticircumvention liability under § 1201(f).”^992 This
language, although dicta, characterizes the Section 1201(f) exemption very broadly.^993
Another dictum by the court in connection with articulating its rationale for rejecting
such a broad interpretation of anti-circumvention liability makes clear the court’s belief that the
anti-circumvention provisions should not be construed to prevent interoperability of computer
programs:
Chamberlain’s proposed construction would allow any manufacturer of any
product to add a single copyrighted sentence or software fragment to its product,
wrap the copyrighted material in a trivial “encryption” scheme, and thereby gain
the right to restrict consumers’ rights to use its products in conjunction with
competing products. In other words, Chamberlain’s construction of the DMCA
would allow virtually any company to attempt to leverage its sales into
aftermarket monopolies – a practice that both the antitrust laws and the doctrine
of copyright misuse normally prohibit.^994(iv) Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control
Components, Inc.
For a discussion of the applicability of the reverse engineering exception of Section
1201(f) in this case, see Section II.G.1(o)(1) below.
(v) Davidson Assocs. v. Internet GatewayIn this case, the plaintiff Davidson & Assocs., doing business as Blizzard Entertainment,
owned the copyrights in several computer games. The games could be played in either a single-
player mode or in an online multi-player mode called “Battle.net mode.”^995 Blizzard operated a
24-hour online gaming service known as the Battle.net service that allowed owners of certain
Blizzard games to play those games against each other in Battle.net mode by linking together
over the Internet through Battle.net servers. In addition to multi-player game play, Battle.net
mode allowed users to chat with other potential players, to record wins and losses and save
advancements in a password protected individual game account, and to set up private games on
(^992) Id. at 1200.
(^993) The court noted that it had no occasion to reach the argument, raised by an amicus, that Section 1201(f) should
cover the defendant’s actions in distributing a product that circumvented technological measures restricting
access to the plaintiff’s computer program so as to interoperate with it. Because Section 1201(f) is an
affirmative defense, the court noted that it would become relevant only if the plaintiff could prove a prima facie
case of anti-circumvention liability to shift the burden to the defendant, which the court ruled the plaintiff had
ultimately failed to do. Id. at 1200 n.15.
(^994) Id. at 1201 (citations omitted).
(^995) Davidson & Assocs. v. Internet Gateway, 334 F. Supp. 2d 1164, 1168 (E.D. Mo. 2004).