Deere settles lawsuit by US FTC, states over equipment repair restric…

Deere settled an FTC and five-state lawsuit requiring it to provide farmers and independent repair providers access to the same diagnostic tools and repair resources as authorised dealers for 10 years, eliminating its monopoly over farm equipment repairs. If you build diagnostic software, repair tools, or parts for farm equipment, Deere's customers just became your customers—the law now requires OEM access to diagnostic data and repair resources for 10 years, which means independent repair shops and farmers can now legally buy from you. The market for aftermarket farm equipment service just opened at scale.