BMW Patents Proprietary Screws That Only Dealerships Can Remove

I give that about a week after it comes out, before you can buy compatible socket wrenches on AliExpress.

People need to stop buying BMWs, they seem to always be the first to introduce some new bullshit.

it will probably limit 3rd parties for a short time, until they purchase the tool that is required

or someone reverse engineers a tool that doesn't violate some trademark

these things never stay in one parties control for long

I bet that the goal here is to try to abuse trademark law to sue anyone who makes compatible bits because it's embedding the trademarked BMW logo. I also bet that courts won't buy into it.

EDIT: Well, I bet that US courts won't buy into it. Dunno about other jurisdictions, what case law is there.

Back in the 1990s, you had Sega v. Accolade, where Sega tried making their consoles not work with a game unless that game had copyrighted and trademarked content at the beginning, with the idea that nobody could legally make games compatible with their consoles without Sega's approval, and a court said "nice try, but no".

EDIT2:

The court then went on to cite Anti-Monopoly v. General Mills Fun Group, which states in reference to the Lanham Act, "The trademark is misused if it serves to limit competition in the manufacture and sales of a product. That is the special province of the limited monopolies provided pursuant to the patent laws."[9] The judges in the case had decided that Sega had violated this provision of the act by utilizing its trademark to limit competition for software for its console.

EDIT3: Oh, BMW patented it, too. I still bet that that's going to run into anti-trust law.

I wonder how that got past the prior art. I mean Robocop referenced shooting yourself in the dick back in the 1980s.

Hooray, more tools to buy. 🫩

Sure wish we could just have a single standard shape and size.
How about standard hex in metric and be done with it?

Literally not even a novel design and in my opinion, not patentable.

Didn't Audi edit: try some similarly outrageous stunt about 25 years ago? Something like no user access to the engine compartment at all? As in go to the dealer to have them remove the front of your car and refill your washer fluid. I remember that went over like a limestone cloud and I don't think they pulled the trigger on that design. Car people, where are you?

BMW is essentially the Apple of cars. Is has the same cult-like following too.

I bet you'll be able to source matching bits from Chinese sources not a week after the screws appear on the market.

Nobody learned anything from "Tamper Resistent" Torx.

a-hole drivers, a-hole companies not surprised.

Man, fuck BMW, they're a shitty company to do business with. Worse than Audi even and that's a tall order.

I'm sure a bored steel worker somewhere can crank out a bit in 10 minutes

BMW, in lieu developing electric cars that can compete with chinese brands, has found a different way of binding its customers to the brand...

No one ever asks about the company's right to repair /s

This just means in order to remove them at home, you have to buy a special screwdriver.

Nintendo did this for decades, and it was still super easy to obtain the special screwdriver for their special screws.

Fuck them then. The line in the sand has been drawn and we want to fix our shit without corporate intervention. I was always too poor to own one anyway.

classic bmw

if only our economy wasnt so dependent on this company

Fuck em, but also a few measurements, plastic prototypes, and 1 shapeways order and you could have a custom stainless socket wrench bit to fit these. I've printed a custom shaped utility box key in 17-4 for less than $50.

Even a bad idea like this has its loyal supporters who are fine with a car company making DIYers jump through hoops. Probably pay more for the luxury of not being able to do basic service on your own car.

I honestly was expected it to be lug nuts connected to the cloud that self-destructed if a code isn't given in time. If you want people to buy your cars and take them to the dealer for servicing, then build better cars and have better service at decent prices. It's common sense to anyone else.

A Veblen good is a type of luxury good for which the demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve.

Why not just weld that shit solid at this point ffs.

Everyone's copying from the fruit store. They see "unrepairable phones made them a trillion dollar company, let's do the same!". All they have to do is market it like it was made by the second coming of Christ and people will love it. Sprinkle on some bullshit like "it's for your safety, stealing it is worth less now" and it'll be a hit.

Propriety screws can all be defeated with the right 2 part epoxy...?

What's the point? Any person with a set of tools is not going to be stopped by having the wrong drill bit.

Give me a blowtorch and 20 minutes. I'll have it off.

I'll stick with my Hyundai, thanks.

Does that mean it'll be a free dealership service? If you can't service them yourself or have an off brand replacement, doesn't the company have to provide it?

Thanks for letting me know to never buy a BMW!

Ugh, I hope not. I already have $100k in tools.

I think the purpose of these has went over a lot of people’s head.

The are likely going to be used for wheel nuts, primarily for aesthetics.

The cars are going to come with a socket for these, just like every car comes with a socket for the security wheel nut.