[nthitz]

Article states it's not true "digital" rights management. Seems more like an analog rights management (shine an infrared light on ink and register reflection). So presumably no one can be technically liable under the DMCA. However, if Keurig were to switch to a more "digital" form of rights management (perhaps actual RFID), could these third party coffee pod creators be found guilty of circumventing content protection technologies (DMCA violation)?

[rcthompson]

Since there's no copyrightable artistic work involved here, I don't think the DMCA applies.

[gambiting]

Like someone above said, the pattern could be in a shape of their logo, so anyone replicating it would be effectively putting another company logo on their product,which is definitely not legal.

[turingfail]

There are ways to lose your trademarks if you use them or simply allow them to be used in the wrong contexts. I think their competitors would argue that this is one of those ways.