On Monday, John Deere & Company and the American Farm Bureau Federation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) ensuring users the right to repair their John Deere products through the private sector rather than through the company.
The MOU’s stated purpose is to allow farmers to perform lawful use and maintenance of John Deere agricultural equipment, to ensure the availability of necessary-for-repair tools and documentation from the manufacturer, to prevent safety violations regarding the agricultural equipment, to protect the intellectual property of John Deere, and to assure compliance with federal and state law.
According to the MOU, “Manufacturer [, i.e., John Deere,] shall ensure that any Farmer, including any staff or independent technician assisting a Farmer at a Farmer’s request, and any Independent Repair Facility that provides assistance to Farmers, has electronic access on Fair and Reasonable terms to Manufacturer’s Tools, Specialty Tools, Software and Documentation”
The MOU specifies that the American Farm Bureau Federation is not permitted to seek, support, or introduce Right to Repair legislation that imposes further obligations than those in the MOU.
The MOU concludes with a section of a statement of cooperation between John Deere and the American Farm Bureau and a list of defined terms used throughout the document.
The action comes months after the FTC’s latest action on its own push to improve the right to repair.
