John Deere to pay $99M in right-to-repair settlement

verdverm

The second paragraph likely answers some of your immediate questions > The settlement also includes an agreement by Deere to provide “the digital tools required for the maintenance, diagnosis, and repair” of tractors, combines, and other machinery for 10 years. That part is crucial, as farmers previously resorted to hacking their own equipment’s software just to get it up and running again. John Deere signed a memorandum of understanding in 2023 that partially addressed those concerns, providing third parties with the technology to diagnose and repair, as long as its intellectual property was safeguarded. Monday’s settlement seems to represent a much stronger (and legally binding) step forward.

darth_avocado

The stock is up 5% today. What’s the catch?

chasil

The complete crack of Deere's firmware in 2022 must have had some impact on this. https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/16/john_deere_doom/ Edit: 'Sick Codes confirmed that he believes John Deere failed to comply with its GPL obligations. "I'd love for them to come forward and explain how they are in compliance," he said.'

SilverElfin

Seems like a small price for a big company. Shouldn’t there be some higher punitive fine for even trying this tactic? It’s basically zero cost for companies to be abusive.

causality0

One of the most user-hostile companies on earth. My John Deere lawnmower came with a fuel gauge that runs off a CR2032 that's embedded in epoxy. The battery runs out of charge in about six months and the gauge stops working. If you saw the gauge open and replace the battery it doesn't start working again. If you disconnect the gauge the lawnmower won't start. Replacement gauges are $60.

shevy-java

Good! Wonder if Louis Rossmann already mentioned that.

bearjaws

Needs another zero, likely made 9 figures in revenue from this scheme.

mothballed

I bought a ~completely mechanical tractor without ECU right under the 25hp cutoff that requires computer and emissions controls to get around this bullshit. The adding of DPF and/or SCR to agricultural diesels gave vendors cover to fuck the customer using the excuse of preventing emissions tampering.

skeptrune

this is awesome. beyond happy to see it

pnw

Up to one third of that $99m goes to attorneys. Named plaintiffs get $25k each and class members get what's left over, which could be anything from $50 to $5k according to ChatGPT. I wonder if they'll throw in free credit monitoring with that?

Robdel12

Woah, childs play money for the amount of pain, lock in, and money they’ve cost farmers.

datahack

This is woefully inadequate as a remedy. The dollar amount is minuscule and the remedy time limited. Seems like they just got a license to continue business as usual.

itbeho

I live in a wine region in central Calif where everyone has a tractor. We bought a Kubota, enjoy using it and get a lot of work done with it. We have a neighbor that bought a new John Deere and for about a 3 month period we endured nothing but abuse from him because we didn't buy "American". Then his problems started...

silexia

Farmer here. We only run equipment made before 2000 and all of our tractors are from the 1980s. We badly need right to repair.