to prevent it from breaking in the future. As with creating and copying objects, there are ways in which manufacturers could use intellectual property law to prevent such activity. In the case of replacement objects, copyright and trademark protections will not be as important. A replacement part is, almost by definition, a "useful article" of the type under the jurisdiction of patent law. Patent allows for the free reproduction of replacement parts in a number of ways. First, there are relatively stringent requirements for patent protection. As mentioned above, these stringent requirements mean that relatively few objects are protected by patent. Moreover, many of the objects protected by patent are, in fact, "combination" patents. Combination patents combine existing objects (some patented, some not) in a new way. Although the new combination is protected by patent, the individual elements (assuming they are not individually protected by patent) are free to be reproduced at will. As a result, there is little question that manufacturing unpatented replacement parts for a patented device would not violate the patent for that device. [14] As long as you legitimately purchased the original device, you have the right to manufacture your own replacement parts. [15] This right to replace has two noteworthy caveats. First, you only have the right to replace parts of a patented device. That means that a simple patented device consisting of only one part, or an individually patented part of a more complex device, cannot be reproduced without infringing. Second, though repairing a