Automakers Try to Stop the Gearheads

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- After you buy a car, do you really own it? Automakers are appealing to the U.S. Copyright Office for intellectual property protection of software regulating emissions, steering and other aspects of vehicle performance. Such a broad interpretation of copyright law would require car owners and third-party mechanics to use manufacturer-approved diagnostic equipment to analyze and fix problems. More significantly, it would limit the aftermarket modifications that backyard tinkerers and professional repair shops have long made without interference. If the Copyright Office sides with carmakers, could “end the American pastime of tinkering under the hood,” writes William Rand, a marketing professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and director of the school's Center for Complexity in Business. Read his Wall Street Journal guest column.

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