All rights exist on a scale from absolute to nothing. Two individuals with free will cannot completely overwill the other. There must be balance to mazimize t

All rights exist on a scale from absolute to nothing. Two individuals with free will cannot completely overwill the other. There must be balance to mazimize the rights of both parties. So it is with producers of products and owners of products. If you buy something, you should have the right to do with it as you please for your personal use. The producer of said good may implicitly or explicitly (see licenses and patents) retain some right to exclusive first sale of the product that you have purchased. You still have the right to sell your good to another, but you do not necisarrily have the right to manufacture, distribute or produce it. Does sharing your insights into the design of the product on the internet equate to publishing their design content? Apparently so, according to the accusers. The internet especially has lowered the hurdles for anyone to compete in the intellectual property market. Some companies will fight tooth and nail for the rights or perceived rights to their IP. As a contrast, check out the efforts of the Open Hardware Summit. The OHS is drafting an open source hardware license that people and companies can apply to their products clearly defines that the products design can be distributed, changed and shared. http://www.openhardwaresummit.org/license/ http://www.openhardwaresummit.org/license/