Keurig’s attempt to “DRM” their new coffee maker

Here is a link to the article mentioned in class today about Keurig’s attempt to “DRM” their new coffee machine and the general public dissatisfaction with this approach.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/5/7986327/keurigs-attempt-to-drm-its-coffee-cups-totally-backfired

Something I noticed upon re-reading the article is that they are actually being sued by some competitors for anti-trust violations after releasing this new machine (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/22/lawsuits-claim-k-cup-maker-violates-antitrust-laws/8028197/). That seems like an interesting approach since, as we discussed in class, there doesn’t seem to be any other ‘remedy’ available to prevent this type of behaviour – what is essentially an attempt to expand of patent protection through the use of (D)RM technology.

Alternatively, I wonder if the market will sort this out on its own in the end, since if they frustrate enough consumers and lose enough market share they may realize that this approach isn’t going to work and go back to the old “open” system.