Straight Talks: New players, new rules - IP disruption in the automobile industry
On January 15, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Minnesota, and Illinois filed a lawsuit against Deere & Company (Deere). The complaint, which Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona have since joined, accuses Deere of creating...more
In many cases, the answer is yes, but following a recently-adopted exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), owners of certain retail-level machines are no longer forced to hire OEM-certified technicians to...more
The Maine Attorney General’s Office recently announced that it has convened an 11-person working group of industry stakeholders to develop recommendations for legislation to establish an entity with rulemaking and enforcement...more
Trade associations representing independent repair facilities have become strong advocates for expanding right to repair laws to increase member access to vehicle telematics data. These efforts have created uncertainty for...more
On May 28, 2024, Colorado became the fifth state to adopt a “right to repair” law, with Governor Jared Polis signing HB 1121, the “Consumer Right to Repair Digital Electronic Equipment” bill. Colorado now joins California,...more
To give consumers the ability to repair their own electronic devices, New York is leading the way in “Right to Repair” legislation with its Digital Fair Repair Act, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 399-NN (2022). The Digital Fair Repair...more
On December 28, 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the state's Digital Fair Repair Act into law. The Minnesota legislature quickly followed, passing its own version in May 2023. Interest in "right to repair"...more
On March 24, a bipartisan group of 27 state attorneys general sent a letter to Congress, encouraging the passage of “right-to-repair” legislation to establish and secure a competitive marketplace for repairing vehicles,...more
On March 14, 2022, a bipartisan trio of U.S. Senators introduced a bill (S.3830) that would require manufacturers to provide the tools and documentation necessary for consumers and third parties to repair electronic...more
On March 8, 2022, the Massachusetts federal court in Alliance for Automotive Innovation v. Healy issued a procedural order informing the parties that the court would need another month to issue a decision on a challenge...more
With the effective date looming for changes to Massachusetts law that will require automobile manufacturers to make significant changes to telematics systems, a trade association representing OEMs on Tuesday, December 1,...more
Massachusetts voters on November 3, 2020 overwhelmingly approved Question One, a ballot initiative amending the state’s Right to Repair Law. Beginning with “model year 2022,” manufacturers who use a telematics system in their...more
On November 3, 2020, Massachusetts voters will go to the polls for the second time in less than a decade to consider a “Right to Repair” ballot initiative. Question One would amend Massachusetts law to force auto...more