Jonathan Platt

McDonald’s ice cream machines are notoriously prone to being out of order, and requiring servicing by expensive (and scarce) technicians. As described in this video by iFixit (a company that provides instructions and parts for repairs), part of the problem involves copyright law, in that the machine error codes are obscure and difficult for end users to retrieve and interpret, and in that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), specifically 17 USC 1201, makes it illegal to bypass a digital lock that protects  a copyrighted work, such as the software of a device such as an appliance (like an ice cream maker).

However, the DMCA includes a provision that allows for exemptions to be granted to the prohibition against circumventing copyright protections. Every three years new exemptions can be granted by the Librarian of Congress, and previous exemptions can be renewed. In August iFixit and Public Knowledge (a nonprofit advocacy group) petitioned for a new exemption under 17 USC 1201, calling for an expansion of “the repair exemption for consumer electronic devices to include commercial industrial equipment such as automated building management systems and industrial equipment (i.e. soft serve ice cream machines and other industrial kitchen equipment).” The Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission filed comments in support of this petition, while some business groups and organizations, such as commercial equipment and appliance manufacturers, opposed the proposal.

The Copyright Office just issued its triennial final rule for exemptions, which addressed the petition filed by iFixit and Public Knowledge, granting the proposed exemption in part. Going forward (for at least three years) there will be an exemption to the prohibition against circumvention of copyright protection systems for “diagnosis, maintenance, and repair of retail-level commercial food preparation equipment,” Final Rule, at page 23. According to Meredith Rose, a Senior Policy Council of Public Knowledge (as quoted in a pun-laden press release), this granting of the “exemption for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and enable businesses to better serve their customers.”