[Info-vax] Latest TCPIP Services seem irreparably horked...

[Richard B. Gilbert]

On 3/5/2012 9:16 AM, Paul Sture wrote:
> On Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:10:53 -0800, John Wallace wrote:
>
>>
>> "We don't require car manufacturers to design their cars so that one can
>> easily swap the factory-supplied engine, or air-conditioning system, or
>> brakes or whatever with third-party products."
>>
>> Actually I thought there were legal precedents to the opposite effect in
>> some countries e.g. the UK and quite possibly the EU. If I remember
>> rightly, vehicle manufacturers have been legally required to permit and
>> not obstruct the supply of "compatible" after-market parts such as
>> exhaust systems. Can't remember the full details, and as with all things
>> legal, different countries may have different rules, and the rules may
>> change from time to time anyway.
>>
>> e.g.
>> http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/british-leyland-motor-corporation-ltd-v-
> armstrong-patents-co-ltd
>
> The use of "spurious parts" (as they are known in Yorkshire anyway) is
> discouraged by the manufacturers, but when you compare the quality and
> price of them you can make significant savings and/or longevity gains by
> buying third party products.  Exhausts can be tricky; I once bought one
> for circa 175 instead of the recommended manufacturer's item at nearly
> 400, but forever after that car didn't run as it had done before,
> stalling at idle etc.
>
> But when third party adjustable shock absorbers cost less than the
> manufacturer's own item which has a design lifetime which only reaches
> the end of the warranty period, you can get better quality.
>
> One thing I do recall several European car manufacturers getting taken to
> court for was their reluctance to supply right hand drive models from
> Europe for export to the UK.  Significant savings could be made by
> customers doing this, but the manufacturers were trying to block their
> ability to do so.
>

This seems most peculiar!  What legal theory holds that a manufacturer 
in, say, France, has a duty to supply right hand drive vehicles for use 
in the UK?  It may be profitable for them to do so but I have trouble
seeing a duty there.

It's my understanding that this situation is ancient history, the Brits 
finally joined the rest of the world.  Seems to me it was twenty or more 
years ago.