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Keurig to use DRM-like controls in new K-Cups, locking out competitors

It seems like you just can’t escape DRM sometimes. We’ve often got digital rights management (DRM) on our movies, music, and e-books, telling us when and how we can use a product that we’ve paid money for. Now, it looks like we might be seeing similar restrictions on our coffee.

Single-cup coffee brewer giant Keurig has had a lawsuit filed against it, Tech Dirt reports, claiming that Keurig has been seeking ways to lock its competitors out of the market and prevent other companies from making coffee pods (called ‘K-Cups’ when used with the Keurig) that will work with their brewing system.

To use the Keurig single-cup brewing system, the user places a K-Cup inside the machine, presses a button, and in minutes they have a single cup of coffee. Back in 2012, The Verge reports, the patent for K-Cup technology expired, opening up the market to anyone who wanted to develop their own Keurig-compatible cup. Now there are numerous offerings from brands not affiliated with Keurig, undercutting parent company Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ bottom line.

[ Related: Nespresso takes aim at Keurig with big-cup brewer ]

TreeHouse Foods, the company filing the lawsuit, explained their feelings about protection measures in their court filing:

"Green Mountain has announced a new anticompetitive plan to maintain its monopoly by redesigning its brewers to lock out competitors’ products. Such lock-out technology cannot be justified based on any purported consumer benefit, and Green Mountain itself has admitted that the lock-out technology is not essential for the new brewers’ function. Like its exclusionary agreements, this lock-out technology is intended to serve anticompetitive and unlawful ends."

Keurig’s CEO later confirmed the technology would be coming when the company rolls out its updated K-Cup technology, dubbed “Keurig 2.0,” which is expected to launch this fall.

This change will affect lots of big-name coffee companies who have launched their own versions of the single-serve coffee cups to be compatible with Keurig machines. Tim Hortons currently offers regular and decaf versions of its coffee in Keurig format, but isn’t actually licensed with the company.

Green Mountain says that it’s currently in talks with companies to try and work out agreements before the Keurig 2.0 is released. Just in case, though, you better enjoy those homemade double-doubles while you still can.

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