Yesterday, a Right to Repair bill was introduced by Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) specifically targeting farm equipment. The bill sponsor is a member of the House Agriculture Committee and was joined by a trio of additional bill sponsors, two of which are also members of the committee.
The legislation has not been assigned a bill number yet, but the text can be found HERE. While unique from previous Right to Repair legislation in some respects, the bill regurgitates the same misguided concepts and adds new, seriously flawed approaches as well. To summarize, this bill is a blatant expropriation of intellectual property masquerading as a Right to Repair bill.
The bill does not appear to target dealers with mandates or enforcement. For instance, it does not contain the provision that OEMs sell parts at dealer net cost as nearly all state legislation typically does (instead it relies on an ambiguous and indiscernible standard of what is fair to both parties). It does mandate that manufacturers provide “tools” at no cost to farmers, with a very broad definition of what a tool is that encompasses essentially all software and diagnostic equipment.
The bill would gut nearly all copyright and patent protections from manufacturers and create unfettered access to security locks and security related functions. The bill specifically rejects current federal copyright protections to allow reprogramming and modification of software for farm equipment. It goes even further to allow individuals to manufacture and traffic devices that are primarily designed for the purpose of circumventing technological measures that control access to copyrighted works incorporated in farm equipment.
In short, this bill is wholly beyond the pale of reasonable legislation meant to address customer self-repair. With that said, we are not taking it lightly and are confronting this legislation head on. In the coming weeks, NAEDA will be leading an outreach campaign to squash this legislation. For those dealers who are constituents of a House Agriculture Committee member, expect to see a communication from us in the near future about engagement with your representative.
We will keep our members informed on the progress of our efforts. In the meantime, if you have questions or input about this legislation, please contact Eric Wareham at ewareham@naeda.com or Kipp McGuire at kmcguire@naeda.com.