Deere & Co won't give out software and data needed for repairs, FTC told
- Reference: 1646684521
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/03/07/deere_repair_ftc/
- Source link:
The groups include National Farmers Union, Iowa Farmers Union, Missouri Farmers Union, Montana Farmers Union, Nebraska Farmers Union, Ohio Farmers Union, Wisconsin Farmers Union, Farm Action, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, the Digital Right to Repair Coalition, and iFixit.
They contend that Deere & Company owns over 50 per cent of the agricultural machinery market in the US and has deliberately restricted access to its diagnostic software and other information necessary to repair its products in violation of the Sherman Act and statutes covering unfair and deceptive trade practice. And they're asking the FTC to intervene by putting an end to these practices.
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"Deere is the dominant force in the $68 billion US agricultural equipment market, controlling over 50 per cent of the market for large tractors and combines," said Jamie Crooks, attorney from Fairmark Partners, which represents the farm and repair groups, in a preface to the complaint
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"For many farmers and ranchers, they effectively have no choice but to purchase their equipment from Deere. Not satisfied with dominating just the market for equipment, Deere has sought to leverage its power in that market to monopolize the market for repairs of that equipment, to the detriment of farmers, ranchers, and independent repair providers."
Right-to-repair kicking up a gear
Objections to Deere & Company's practices, part of a broader pushback against digital lock protections built into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, go [5]back many years . Initially the province of cyber liberties activists like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, digital repair concerns have come to the attention of lawmakers [6]in the US , [7]the UK and [8]Europe .
In January, Deere & Company was hit with [9]two lawsuits , one in Illinois and the other in Alabama, over the company's repair restrictions, and US President Joe Biden [10]voiced support for repair rights . Then in February, US lawmakers in the House of Representatives and in the Senate [11]introduced separate bills to guarantee the right to repair.
When states began to consider right to repair legislation in 2018, Deere & Company, through an affiliated trade organization, said by January 1, 2021 it would provide tools through authorized dealers "to empower farmers and ranchers to perform basic service, maintenance and repairs on their equipment."
[12]Right-to-repair laws proposed in the US aim to make ownership great again
[13]Farm machinery giant John Deere plows into two right-to-repair lawsuits
[14]US President Joe Biden reminds the White House he is serious about repairability
[15]Magnanimous Apple will allow people to fix their iPhones using parts bought from its Self Service Repair program
Crooks observes that 2021 has come and gone without this commitment being met. Instead, Deere & Company provides repair information only if farmers and ranchers pay thousands of dollars up front for a service called Customer Service Advisor, which still does not enable them to perform common repairs on their own. Citing this misrepresentation, the complaint asks the FTC to intervene.
The legal filing cites several examples of the impact Deere & Company's practices have had on farmers. It recounts how Jared Wilson, a farmer near Butler, Missouri, experienced a mechanical valve failure on a Deere fertilizer spreader that sent the machinery into "limp mode" until the software error code could be resolved by a Deere-authorized technician. Wilson had to take his equipment to the dealer and wait 32 days for a repair, resulting in an estimated loss of $30,000 to $60,000 because he could not use the machinery.
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What's more, the complaint says it appears that Deere & Company is gathering data from farmers and using that information to provide optimization techniques to other farmers, eroding potential points of competitive differentiation among its customers.
"These are techniques farmers have developed and keep secret for a competitive advantage over their rivals," the complaint says. "But if they use a Deere machine with JDLink, farmers are revealing those techniques for Deere to profit off of."
The FTC filing also suggests a rationale for Deere & Company's behavior: It alleges that the repair business is three to six times more profitable than the agricultural machinery sales business.
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Deere & Company did not respond to a request for comment. ®
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[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/03/07/fairmark_complaint.pdf
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2017/04/29/drm_cory_doctorow/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2019/05/06/bernie_sanders_repair/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/10/uk_right_to_repair_law/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/13/eu_open_source_study_highlights/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/25/john_deere_right_to_repair_lawsuits/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/26/biden_right_to_repair/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/02/right_to_repair_bills/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/02/right_to_repair_bills/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/25/john_deere_right_to_repair_lawsuits/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/26/biden_right_to_repair/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/17/apple_diy_repair/
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YiaOmHujA6slDSqA61CcLwAAAM4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Who forces those farmers to buy Deere? Deere doesn't have a monopoly (yet).
Nationally no. Locally, often yes they do have a monopoly - and it’s not by accident.
It's not much different than broadband access.
Theoretically I have 5 different companies to choose from... but the truth is I call up 4 of them and "they don't service my area"
Deere, Case, IH, and others don't overlap with their "service territories" - "you're not in our service territory, call Deere" - which is about as collusive as it gets.
OK. So buy Case - or someone else. If enough do it JD will change - or go bust.
OK. So buy Case - or someone else. If enough do it JD will change - or go bust.
You’re presuming that there is a CaseIH dealer within 200miles of them, or that they can get dealer support/parts in a sensible time (not that a local JD dealer will necessarily be any quicker).
When they describe Deere as a monopoly, they’re not kidding - the big boys divvy up territories so that they don’t compete or step on each other’s toes. Completely illegal cartel behaviour - if the anti trust boys could be bothered to investigate.
Construction equipment is exactly the same - when you see the CEOs of Case, Cat and Deere disappear into a private room together at the AEM Conference, it’s not for a friendly game of poker. They’re agreeing their no-compete territories.
What are the barriers to entry in this market ? It seems like "found suitcase full of money" for the right entrepreneur to move in and take market share by providing a product and terms - openness - that customers would want. There is no need to try to take every dollar that needs to be spent. As they say in the garment district, you can make money at the high end and at the low end.
Unless the new player has bottomless pockets, expect "special deals" and the like from the incumbents until the new player goes bust.
The barriers are even higher than becoming a successful car manufacturer.
You're building a large industrial machine that goes into the hands of someone that'll give it a rough supper makin' a livin' and you'll also need to service it on a moment's notice so said customer doesn't go bankrupt.
So not only do your machines need to be nearly bulletproof to start with, but you also need a big dealer & service network.
That said, a lot of the smaller farmers go to Kubota and others, but the larger farmers don't have a choice... no one else makes the big machines they need.
Set a precedent.
Start nationalizing these companies. "We the people..." need to start coming first for something besides taxes.
repairability
An Amana fridge,
no circuit diagram available,
service costs $150 travel $100/hour,
guy maybe isolates fault $250,
phones repair will cost an extra $400,
fault is obvious,
remove faulty part, test with meter - yes faulty - 5 minutes,
Google part - cheapest $55 delivered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiQPkfS2Q84
I don't mind paying for professional repair,
but won't pay for having an extra hole ripped
Re: repairability
Yeah, you can google your part all you want, but when Deere says they won't sell it to you unless their tech diagnoses and installs it, and there's no 3rd party alternative... that's the position they're in.
An easy fix: Change copyright and patent terms
Make both last for at most 15 years. This forces companies to look after their customers extremely well, lest they later pay someone good money to add decent long term support to their old products. Innovation would still continue at the pace it does today, just without all the bullshit. Since it’s my tax money which goes towards funding these asshats in the first place, why shouldn’t everything end up public domain within a somewhat useful timeframe?
Is this news?
Huh....John Deere. Am I missing something here?
Are users supplied the software or documentation or hardware to repair their Apple smartphone?
Are users supplied the software or documentation to repair their Windows application?
Are users supplied the software or documentation or hardware to repair their Jaguar SUV?
....or more generally, IS ANY CONSUMER TODAY capable of getting the software, documentation or spares for ANY PRODUCT AT ALL?
P.S. ....and what about the data slurping whereby most manufacturers SIMULTANEOUSLY EXPLOIT their customers!!
Re: Is this news?
I've repaired multiple parts on my car.
An independent garage repair the sill and door after an accident.
I bought 100% matching paint.
I can fit a 3rd party air and oil filters without voiding the warranty.
I can remap my ecu.
So your anolgy sucks.
Re: Is this news?
Yes, actually, you CAN go down to the automotive dealer and buy a factory scan tool and do all of the things yourself. Some stuff like making keys and reprogramming requires a subscription to retrieve encryption keys but it's all >available<, if expensive for the average toolbox.
You CANNOT buy a JD scan tool. You're not allowed to own one! They would sue you for having it! It would invalidate your service contract if you even dared to put certain parts on yourself. And they would still have to reset the tripped computer, which means you're back to a service contract or at least paying them (more, sans contract) to come out - which they won't get around to doing until you are PROPERLY screwed, harvest / farm work wise.
ditto for McDonald's ice cream machines
The supplier (Taylor) makes much more money on maintenance services than they do on the machines, and the franchise agreement specified who can service the machines...i.e. Taylor.
Seriously…
Is anyone surprised by this?
Re: Seriously…
No, but then I've seen the same situation elsewhere.
For example, the Aprilia 850 Mana has a CVT transmission where the drive belt is a consumable. After you replace the belt, you need to use the scan tool to tell the computer to reset the transmission to the new belt.
Guess which scan tool is dealer-only unobtanium? I was considering one until I saw this detail in the forums.
Guess what bike didn't sell well? Then Aprilia had the *balls* to moan that "motorcyclists are too conservative to accept the latest technology"
Now due to US warranty laws, I would have gotten the service for free, but then I still would have had to drive or trailer the bike 280 miles to the nearest dealer every 12 months. No thanks. I have a bike because I don't want to deal with asshole dealers.
Who forces those farmers to buy Deere? Deere doesn't have a monopoly (yet).