John Deere has to face the FTC's right-to-repair lawsuit

The Verge

a day ago

John Deere will have to fight the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust lawsuit, which accuses the company of increasing repair costs by making farmers use its network of authorized dealers to fix their equipment, as reported earlier by Reuters. In a ruling on Monday, Illinois US District Court Judge Iain D. Johnston rejected John Deere's attempt to get the case tossed out.
The FTC and several states, including Illinois, Minnesota, Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin, sued John Deere in January, claiming the company has spent 'decades' limiting the ability of farmers and independent repair shops to fix their equipment.
The lawsuit brings up the specialized software John Deere uses to repair its equipment, which is only available to authorized dealers, 'forcing farmers to solely rely on more expensive authorized dealers for critical repairs.' The FTC also accuses John Deere of maintaining monopoly power over certain repairs of its equipment.
In his ruling, Judge Johnston rejected John Deere's challenges to the FTC's constitutional structure, along with arguments that the government's monopolization claims are 'insufficient.' Judge Johnston is handling a separate class action lawsuit filed against John Deere by farmers as well, which he alludes to in his decision.
'Sequels so rarely beat their originals that even the acclaimed Steve Martin couldn't do it on three tries. See Cheaper by the Dozen II, Pink Panther II, Father of the Bride II, ' Johnston writes. 'Rebooting its earlier production, Deere sought to defy the odds. To be sure, like nearly all sequels, Deere edited the dialogue and cast some new characters, giving cameos to veteran stars like Humphrey's Executor. But ultimately the plot felt predictable, the script derivative. Deere I received a thumbs-down, and Deere II fares no better.'