FTC Finally Sues John Deere Over Years Of ‘Right To Repair’ Abuses
from the do-not-pass-go,-do-not-collect-$200 dept
A few years ago agricultural equipment giant John Deere found itself on the receiving end of an antitrust lawsuit for its efforts to monopolize tractor repair. The lawsuits noted that the company consistently purchased competing repair centers in order to consolidate the sector and force customers into using the company’s own repair facilities, driving up costs and logistical hurdles dramatically for farmers.
John Deere executives have repeatedly promised to do better, then just ignored those promises.
Now the company is on the receiving end of a belated FTC lawsuit over its effort to monopolize repair, something outgoing FTC boss Lina Khan says made operations much more difficult and expensive for farmers the world over:
“Illegal repair restrictions can be devastating for farmers, who rely on affordable and timely repairs to harvest their crops and earn their income,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC’s action today seeks to ensure that farmers across America are free to repair their own equipment or use repair shops of their choice—lowering costs, preventing ruinous delays, and promoting fair competition for independent repair shops.”
The FTC lawsuit was filed in conjunction with the states of Illinois and Minnesota.
In addition to intentionally acquiring repair alternatives to monopolize repair and drive up consumer costs, John Deere also routinely makes repair difficult and costly through the act of software locks, obnoxious DRM restrictions, and “parts pairing” — which involves only allowing the installation of company-certified replacement parts — or mandatory collections of company-blessed components.
More recently, the company has been striking meaningless “memorandums of understanding” with key trade groups, pinky swearing to stop their bad behavior if the groups agree to not support state or federal right to repair legislation. Several such groups backed off their criticism, only to have John Deere continue its monopolistic behavior, the FTC’s complaint notes.
Several class action antitrust suits and ample warning from the FTC wasn’t enough to deter John Deere. The FTC’s suit comes as Lina Khan heads out the door, and it’s more than possible that Trump 2.0 — keen on taking a hatchet to what’s left of U,S, corporate oversight and consumer protection — either kills or undermines FTC legal efforts to finally hold John Deere accountable. You know, for “populism.”
Filed Under: agriculture, drm, ftc, hardware, lina khan, repair, right to repair, tractors
Companies: john deere
Comments on “FTC Finally Sues John Deere Over Years Of ‘Right To Repair’ Abuses”
Great! Another lawsuit that won’t survive more than few days.
Sleep tight Deere John, I assure you that you won’t be bothered for the next four years 🙂
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Exactly what I was thinking! Why now? Why when Biden is heading out the door? It doesn’t make any sense except in a performative one.
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Biden is going out of office “soon”.
The lawyers at the FTC are not leaving any time soon.
Until Trump or the Supreme Court rule against them, the FTC is free to prosecute this lawsuit. … and to an extent, “the process is the punishment” holds too, if only a little bit.
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👍
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shut up doom poster
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Yes, your master has spoken and you had better obey or else.
Internet tough guy is here to enforce the unwritten maga laws of bullshitology.
Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight?
The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.
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“Yes, your master has spoken and you had better obey or else.
Internet tough guy is here to enforce the unwritten maga laws of bullshitology.
Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight?
The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.” shut up ac who is doom posting about 230
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Poorly written bot?
Sure looks like it.
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keep talking no life no account ac
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that’s what i thought dumb ass
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I don’t know why you think it’s your job to play forum police, but I can assure you that it’s not a job—and even if it was, nobody here hired you to do it. Go back to algebra class, kid.
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did you hear that Christians are no longer believing in jesus anymore and is no longer actual christians now
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I’d rather they didn’t. They’re doing a shit enough job as a self-appointed moderator, think of the disaster they’d be as a nuclear scientist!
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“I’d rather they didn’t. They’re doing a shit enough job as a self-appointed moderator, think of the disaster they’d be as a nuclear scientist!” you too good luck in 3 days
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Good luck in middle school if you believe America is the only country whose citizens have Internet access and everyone online lives there, dipshit.
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
we are fucked in 3 days so what’s the point in complaining about them
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If you are willing to surrender, simply because you see the end as inevitable, then your opponent has already won.
Do not comply in advance.
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your right but how are we gonna fight this?
I’m betting that the majority of farmers voted for the tangerine in chief. If he stops this lawsuit, well, sleep in the bed you made and enjoy the fleas.
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we have to see
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To extend your analogy, the farmers will be scratching their flea-bites … using us consumers. There’s just a little bit of self-interest in trying to moderate the problem over reveling in the schadenfreude.
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Exactly. “Haha! Look at those farmers getting what they deserve! Wait… why can I no longer afford groceries? Where’s the selection I’m used to?”
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that’s why you don’t laugh
You’re very likely wrong about that. Hiring assholes to do assholy shit online is a traditional Republican undertaking designed to bury information in bullshit.
In fact, once they fuck the economy over enough, the people they end up hiring are often poor and unemployed democrats, which means many of these asshole trolls actually have a brain.
I’ll bet the pay is a little better than minimum wage too.
The above AC post was posted as a reply to this message by Mister Stone.
“I don’t know why you think it’s your job to play forum police, but I can assure you that it’s not a job—and even if it was, nobody here hired you to do it. Go back to algebra class, kid”
At least it wasn’t another “Too many requests” page again.
Perfectly timed
This lawsuit is perfectly timed so that, when it succeeds, nobody will remember that it was started by the Biden administration, and Trump gets to take credit for helping farmers.
Once again, Dems prove that they have no clue how to play the “this is how you win elections” game.
“parts pairing” — which involves only allowing the installation of company-certified replacement parts
Not just the certified parts. Often you cannot pair the official parts without other tools and code that are not made available, or exorbitantly priced. This is the deeper shitshow of parts pairing.
I agree to this.
Know more- https://kshema.co/crop-protection-solutions-and-insurance-work-together/
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