Copyright Misuse
In DCS Communications Corp. v. DGI Technologies, Inc., the manufacturer of telephone switching systems licensed its operating system with the sale of its telephone hardware. The license agreement with the customer limited the use of the operating system to its proprietary hardware only. The switches made use of microprocessor cards containing firmware that required booting up the operating system. A competitor attempted to develop a competing microprocessor card that was compatible with the operating system (using the switches of a customer with a valid license to test the cards). The manufacturer sued the competitor, contending that testing the competitor's card on its hardware and booting up its operating system constituted unauthorized copying, per its license agreement. The competitor contended that the manufacturer was "attempting to use its copyright to obtain a patent-like monopoly over unpatented microprocessor cards." The court held that the copyright misuse was a viable claim. (source: Ann K. Moceyunas)
IP rights conveyed by government should allow protection of the work, not extorting others