[mulletbum]

Should that open the market for third party manufacturers then to provide parts?

[yarri]

Depends on the industry. The auto insurance industry had facilitated this, but was then reprimanded for using generic parts to repair damaged cars. There was some irony in that US parts manufacturers claimed 3rd parties were importing "foreign" parts, but many of the US manufactures also subcontracted overseas. Thorny issue.

[gozur88]

The problem with repairs wasn't that they were using generic parts from third parties. The problem was they were using used parts. They created a huge market for stolen cars.

[wheelerwj]

Of course. People do that already. If you can reverse engineer it (or get it close), isn't that okay?

I don't think anyone would condone a manufacturer like Foxcon ln selling parts independently, but that stuff is handled contractually anyways.