Access to the tools, parts, information and software needed to repair products and equipment.
Published coverage on this page: 1 case · 12 statements. Statements are ordered newest first.
The FTC and states alleged that Deere reserved fully functional repair software for authorized dealers, raising costs and delaying repairs. Deere disputed that account. In July 2026, the parties announced an agreement expanding access to repair tools.
Published
Read the caseLabels describe a response to the linked claim or the action explained in the statement summary. Choose one or more.
12 matching statements
Role at the time: FTC commissioner addressing National Farmers Union
Statement summary
Meador supports repair access that includes future software and diagnostic tools rather than a remedy limited to today's technology.
“farmers were often forced to use Deere’s authorized dealers,”
What this label refers to
Meador criticizes restrictions that force farmers into Deere's dealer network and argues for equivalent access that keeps pace with new tools. His criticism addresses the repair restrictions under scrutiny.
Role at the time: National Farmers Union president
Statement summary
Larew welcomes relief from Deere's restrictions and argues that all farmers need permanent legal repair rights, regardless of equipment brand or state.
“Farmers across the country refused to stay quiet about this injustice.”
What this label refers to
Larew describes farmers' lack of repair rights as an injustice and says they should have had those rights all along. His call for a nationwide law extends that opposition to repair restrictions.
Role at the time: Wisconsin attorney general
Statement summary
Kaul opposes dealer-only repair dependence and welcomes the settlement for giving farmers more options.
“Farmers shouldn’t have to go to a dealership”
What this label refers to
Kaul opposes dealer-only repair dependence and welcomes the settlement for giving farmers more options.
Role at the time: Arizona attorney general
Statement summary
Mayes criticizes what she calls Deere's monopoly over repair tools and welcomes returning repair control to equipment owners.
“This settlement puts control back where it belongs: in the hands of the people who own the equipment.”
What this label refers to
Mayes says farmers and mechanics have been at the mercy of Deere's repair-tool monopoly. That is direct criticism of the restrictions, not merely praise for the agreement.
Role at the time: Minnesota attorney general
Statement summary
Ellison welcomes the settlement as relief from restrictions he says raised farmers' costs and hurt independent repair businesses.
“John Deere’s illegal practice of preventing farmers from repairing their own equipment”
What this label refers to
Ellison calls Deere's repair restrictions illegal and harmful to farmers and independent businesses. His welcome for the settlement accompanies direct criticism of the restrictions.
Role at the time: FTC chair, in a statement joined by Mark Meador
Statement summary
Ferguson supports equal repair-tool access for farmers and independent shops, arguing it will end excessive costs and service delays.
“farmers will no longer have to pay increasingly exorbitant costs and endure service delays”
What this label refers to
Ferguson criticizes costly dependence on Deere dealers and supports equivalent tools for farmers and independent shops. That criticism targets the restrictions, despite his earlier opposition to filing the suit.
Role at the time: Michigan attorney general
Statement summary
Nessel condemns Deere's restrictions as forcing farmers into dependence on the company and raising repair costs.
“Deere has deliberately designed a system that forces Michigan farmers to depend on the company”
What this label refers to
Nessel condemns Deere's restrictions as forcing farmers into dependence on the company and raising repair costs.
Role at the time: Illinois attorney general
Statement summary
Raoul condemns forcing farmers to rely on expensive authorized dealers and supports access to fully functional repair tools.
“farmers should have increased flexibility to repair and maintain their equipment”
What this label refers to
Raoul condemns forcing farmers to rely on expensive authorized dealers and supports access to fully functional repair tools.
Role at the time: FTC commissioner, in a dissent joined by Melissa Holyoak
Statement summary
Ferguson, joined by Holyoak, supports repair rights but opposes filing the complaint on timing, evidence and settlement-negotiation grounds.
“I recognize that the right to repair one’s own equipment matters a great deal. And I favor right-to-repair legislation. ... But I must dissent from the filing of today’s Complaint on three procedural grounds.”
What this label refers to
Relative to the FTC's allegation that Deere's repair restrictions were unlawful, Ferguson neither defends nor condemns the restrictions. He backs repair rights and a settlement that gives farmers real benefits, but opposes the suit itself and says the evidence is too thin to file with confidence. We labeled it Mixed or conditional because his support for the complaint's goal and his opposition to filing it are materially different positions.
Role at the time: FTC chair when the complaint was filed
Statement summary
Khan says unfair repair restrictions can delay farmers' repairs during planting and harvest.
“Unfair repair restrictions can mean farmers face unnecessary delays during tight planting and harvest windows.”
What this label refers to
Khan calls the repair restrictions unfair and criticizes their effects on farmers' ability to make timely repairs.
Role at the time: Deere & Company, official response to the FTC complaint
Statement summary
Deere calls the FTC complaint factually and legally flawed and says it punishes innovation.
“The complaint is based on flagrant misrepresentations of the facts and fatally flawed legal theories”
What this label refers to
The reference is the alleged unlawful repair restrictions. Deere explicitly rejects the complaint's factual premises and legal theory.
Role at the time: Federal Trade Commission, announcing a lawsuit with Illinois and Minnesota
Statement summary
The FTC alleges that Deere's restrictions increase repair costs and delays and unlawfully protect its authorized-dealer network.
“Action: Filed an antitrust lawsuit challenging Deere's restrictions on fully functional repair tools.”
What this label refers to
The reference is Deere's repair-tool restrictions. The FTC challenges those restrictions as unlawful and harmful.
Mark R. Meador is a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. He previously worked as an antitrust attorney at the FTC and Justice Department and as a competition-policy counsel in the U.S. Senate.
1 case and 1 statement
Rob Larew is president of National Farmers Union. He previously worked on agricultural policy in Congress and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
1 case and 1 statement
Andrew N. Ferguson is chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. He previously served as Virginia solicitor general, chief counsel to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and a Republican counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
1 case and 2 statements
Josh Kaul is the attorney general of Wisconsin, a Democrat who took office in January 2019. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Baltimore and as a voting rights attorney, after clerking for a federal appeals judge. He is running for reelection in 2026.
1 case and 1 statement
American attorney and politician who has served as Attorney General of Minnesota since 2019. He previously represented Minnesota's 5th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019.
1 case and 1 statement
Attorney General of Arizona.
1 case and 1 statement
Dana Nessel is the attorney general of Michigan.
1 case and 1 statement
Kwame Raoul is an attorney and Illinois attorney general. He previously served in the Illinois Senate and worked as a Cook County prosecutor.
1 case and 1 statement
American legal scholar who served as chair of the Federal Trade Commission from 2021 to 2025.
1 case and 1 statement
