John Deere right-to-repair settlement

Following a class action lawsuit against their business practice of making their (farming) equipement unrepairable, John Deere to Pay $99 Million in Monumental Right-to-Repair Settlement:

While the agricultural manufacturing giant pointed out in a statement that this is no admission of wrongdoing, it agreed to pay $99 million into a fund for farms and individuals who participated in a class action lawsuit.

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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.

John Deere equipement is full of DRM that prevent parts replacement, and that make it illegal to reverse engineer.

This settlement really feels like very little. US$99M is just a small fraction of John Deere annual revenue (their net income in 2025 was US$5.03B on a US$45.7B revenue) and likely not even matching how much they extorted their customers for repairs. 10 years is very short for a requirement to provide the equipment to repair. Also the non-admission of wrong doing is basically a slap in face as this doesn’t set a precedent, or rather sets one that maintain the scheme where you don’t own the equipment since you can’t repair it.

While we’ll take the win, it definitely is not the end of the fight.