Right-to-repair advocates and foes get U.S. House hearing

Aaron Perzanowski, a law professor from the University of Michigan,
speaks at the hearing. (House video screenshot via Lancaster Farming)

Both sides of the right-to-repair debate voiced their arguments during a hearing by a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, reports Philip Gruber of Lancaster Farming. 

Farmers and consumers who need to fix their equipment have met a myriad of obstacles. "Manufacturers frustrate or limit third-party repair, steering business to themselves while driving up customer costs, speakers said," Gruber writes. "Repair concerns go beyond agriculture. . . including cars, dishwashers, electric wheelchairs and smartphones. Advocates want Congress to pass legislation enshrining a right to repair."

Manufacturers argued that releasing needed repair data is a cybersecurity and safety concern. Devlin Hartline, a legal fellow at the Hudson Institute, "argued that right-to-repair proposals would weaken manufacturers' intellectual-property rights, such as the right to exclude competition for patented products." Brenna Goth of Bloomberg Law reports, "Opponents, from John Deere equipment dealers to groups representing Samsung and Apple, have said authorized repair programs benefit consumer safety." Manufacturers don't openly address the revenue stream that consumer right-to-repair laws could erase from their books.

Gruber reports, "American courts have supported owners' ability to repair their belongings since before the Civil War, and the Copyright Office has repeatedly said that diagnosis, repair and maintenance don't infringe on copyright protections, Aaron Perzanowski, a University of Michigan law professor told the committee. . . . . Paul Roberts, founder of Secure Repairs, a group of cybersecurity and IT professionals who support the right to repair, added that there's no evidence that schematics, service manuals, diagnostic software and replacement parts increase a machine's vulnerability to cyberattacks." Roberts said: "A diagnostic routine that identifies a failed component or reveals the operating temperature of a device doesn't provide access to the kinds of sensitive data that hackers are interested in."

Despite manufacturers' lobbying, the movement has gained traction. "Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York have passed right-to-repair laws of varying scope. Colorado's applies specifically to tractors," Goth reports. "Proposals in at least 23 states would require electronics companies like Apple or other manufacturers to make reasonably available the tools, parts, and information needed for people to fix the products themselves or through an independent repair shop."

This year, the American Farm Bureau Federation signed memoranda of understanding with Agco, Claas, CNH Industrial Brands, John Deere and Kubota, "manufacturers that represent three-quarters of the domestic farm-machinery market," Gruber notes. "The agreements establish farmers' and independent repair shops' access to manuals and tools for diagnostics and repair. . . . Such agreements can be helpful if they cover a large share of the market and prevent manufacturers from quitting whenever they want. Not all agreements meet those targets, Perzanowski said." He told Gruber: "Oftentimes, frankly, I think they're designed to generate good PR and to confuse arguments around the need for legislation, so I think we have to look at them with some skepticism."