FTC Won’t Let Deere Be

Oh the FTC won’t let Deere be, and Deere says let me be me, and then we’ll see…

A little Slim Shady for your Friday as Deere casts shade at the FTC in the ongoing “Right to Repair” lawsuit.

Denied! In a 49-page court filing submitted March 17, “Deere denies nearly every substantive allegation in the FTC’s amended complaint and asserts a series of affirmative defenses.” 

Nothing new: The latest case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois says Deere has monopolized repair markets for large tractors and combines with its proprietary software tools and dealer network. In simple terms, farmers can only go to Deere dealerships for repairs, which drives down competition and increases costs.

Deere offers a different repair tool to customers and “independent repair shops,” but the FTC says it doesn’t work as well and limits where farmers can have their equipment fixed.

Not the first time: Attorneys general in a few states have asked Congress to pass bills addressing right-to-repair, but none have made it out of committee hearings. Colorado enacted a “right to repair” law for farmers in 2023.

The deetz: These bills would mandate that “agricultural equipment manufacturers make documentation, data, embedded software, firmware, parts, or tools” that are to be used with ag equipment available to all equipment owners and independent service providers “at a fair cost and under fair terms.”

Soundbite: “Deere didn’t meet its burden of showing the narrow-shared interest exception applies. So, the court finds that, to the extent Deere withheld documents with trade associations under a shared-interest rationale, Deere must produce them.” — U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston