Deere Claims Through Copyright Office That Farmers Don't Own Their Tractors

[HayDR]

Wired Magazine - Deere Claims Through Copyright Office That Farmers Don'''t Own Their Tractors | 2015-04-23 | Farm Equipment

Editor痴 Note: On February 10, Dave Kanicki of Farm Equipment wrote his E-WATCH e-column on 典he Next High-Tech Battle in Ag,?/a> which included observations the just-published article that appeared in Wired by Kyle Wiens the previous week. Wiens February 5 article, 哲ew High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers spurred a follow-up article again this week (April 21) in Wired in which Wiens centered on John Deere and the OEM's claim of "who" actually owns the tractor on the farm. Wiens penned an op-ed piece for Wired on April 21 that was titled, 展e Can稚 Let John Deere Destroy the Very Idea of Ownership. Below are the first few paragraphs from Wien' piece; you can read the full article here.

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的t痴 official: John Deere and General Motors want to eviscerate the notion of ownership. Sure, we pay for their vehicles. But we don稚 own them. Not according to their corporate lawyers, anyway.

"In a particularly spectacular display of corporate delusion, John Deere the world痴 largest agricultural machinery maker told the Copyright Office that farmers don稚 own their tractors. Because computer code snakes through the DNA of modern tractors, farmers receive 殿n implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle.?/p>- See more at: Wired Magazine - Deere Claims Through Copyright Office That Farmers Don'''t Own Their Tractors | 2015-04-23 | Farm Equipment
It痴 John Deere痴 tractor, folks. You*e just driving it.
"Several manufacturers recently submitted similar comments to the Copyright Office under an inquiry into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. DMCA is a vast 1998 copyright law that (among other things) governs the blurry line between software and hardware. The Copyright Office, after reading the comments and holding a hearing, will decide in July which high-tech devices we can modify, hack, and repair*nd decide whether John Deere痴 twisted vision of ownership will become a reality.
"Over the last two decades, manufacturers have used the DMCA to argue that consumers do not own the software underpinning the products they buy葉hings like smartphones, computers, coffeemakers, cars, and, yes, even tractors. So, Old MacDonald has a tractor, but he owns a massive barn ornament, because the manufacturer holds the rights to the programming that makes it run.
"This is an important issue for farmers: a neighbor, Kerry Adams, hasn稚 been able to fix an expensive transplanter because he doesn稚 have access to the diagnostic software he needs. He痴 not alone: many farmers are opting for older, computer-free equipment."
- See more at: Wired Magazine - Deere Claims Through Copyright Office That Farmers Don'''t Own Their Tractors | 2015-04-23 | Farm Equipment

 

[kennyd]

There's like three other threads on this already....

 

[beenthere]

And Deere is probably right, in that they have their buyers by the short hairs. Comes with the modern dependency on computers. May just have to give in to the idea, or do without the technology.
Problem I see is that there can be no competition to fix a tractor with a problem when it is tied to their computer. Would they invest in the expensive development and then let anyone in on the "secrets" of their computers? Highly doubt it.

 

[swines]

Every single automobile made today includes software that is proprietary to the manufacturer. The software may be upgraded as needed by the manufacturer for performance and safety reasons. The last thing they want is someone "hacking" the software which causes a problem - which the owner, in all probability, will then claim is the manufacturer's problem to correct.

There is ONE independent mechanic where I live that works on Volvo and BMW automobiles. He has to buy the diagnostic hardware and software associated with each brand, and sends his mechanics to training schools to keep up-to-date with the latest changes in the computer hardware and software.

Today's tractors are no different. The manufacturer owns the copyright to the software as they have spent the research time and money associated with developing, writing, and testing the software. The purchaser does not OWN the software copyright anymore than they own the copyright to a book they've purchased.

While this may be inconvenient for some people who would like to service the equipment themselves, there are liability issues associated with making unauthorized changes to the software that controls large, powerful pieces of equipment.

For some strange reason, a lot of people never want to take responsibility for changes, hacks, or "repairs" they have made when things go wrong - and want to lay the liability off on the manufacturer for allowing them to make changes which have resulted in accident, injury or death.

Now, if YOU were the manufacturer saddled with defending yourself in a society that relies on trial lawyers to play out liability for an accident in court hoping that the entity with the appearance of having the deepest pockets loses - what would YOU DO to protect yourself?

Making the operation / control software as inaccessible and proprietary as possible is a good start...

 

[swines]

As I posted in another thread - you don't own the operating system software or application software on your computer even though you paid money to buy the software.

What you purchased was a license to use the software. The manufacturer, like Microsoft in a Windows system, OWNS THE SOFTWARE ON YOUR COMPUTER.

This is clearly stated in the software agreement which few, if any people actually read:

We do not sell our software or your copy of it – we only license it. Under our license we grant you the right to install and run that one copy on one computer (the licensed computer) for use by one person at a time, but only if you comply with all the terms of this agreement. Our software license is permanently assigned to the licensed computer.

What John Deere is stating is that they own the software on the tractor and are licensing it for use as part of the machine.

This is exactly the same as every other commercial software agreement. Don't care about "shareware" examples - doesn't count as shareware isn't commercially sold by definition or incorporated into a product.

 

[/pine]

Can you say : GNU ?

I wonder how long it will be before we see penguin decals on tractors (and farmer's hats)...!
or:

'Hacking Tractors for Dummies'

 

[johnrex62]

Heck! If it is Deere's position that they own the hardware, are they liable for misuse if they do not include warnings for every nitpicking way we could hurt ourselves on THEIR tractors?