So the concensus seems to be that this move by Campy is 100% legal, but also at least 93% suicidal from a business perspective.

The top groups from SRAM, Shimano, and Campy are all such great performers, subjective little likes/dislikes aside, that it's hard to justify the extra cost. When Campy was an esoteric Italian group to throw on some beautiful handmade Italian frame there was a certain mystique that was unmistakable.

Now, in a global economy where such things don't matter as much and Italian frames are built from molds in Taiwan, it seems that the Campy aura is fading a bit, as is people's willingness to spend significantly more for the Campy stuff. It's great, but Red and 7900 are pretty great too.