The first strike back against the overreach of JD and its 'software lock claim'???

[Dadnatron]

This week, SCOTUS shot down the ability for a manufacturer to impose 'post sale' injunctions on a product.

In short, Lexmark (computer printers) had sued a printer cartridge refiller for patent infringement and breach of contract. Basically saying "We sold those cartridges at a 20% discount with the express requirement that they not be refilled, and that they were returned to the manufacturer." Well... this sounds a lot like JD (and other manufacturers) who impose software code locks basically prohibiting owners from working on their own equipment without massive outlays in more JD purchases of scanners, software, etc etc.

SCOTUS pressed the unanimous opinion that 'when a company sells a product they have no more hold over that product'. I suspect the tractor fallout of this ruling will occur in the next year or so.

Here is a quick excerpt:

The court could hardly have been more unequivocal in its broad embrace of a mandatory doctrine of exhaustion. For the court, the doctrine seemed to devolve ineluctably from the first principles of the law of patents:

When a patentee chooses to sell an item, that product is no longer within the limits of the monopoly and instead becomes the private, individual property of the purchaser, with the rights and benefits that come along with ownership. A patentee is free to set the price and negotiate contracts with purchasers, but may not, by virtue of his patent, control the use or disposition of the product after ownership passes to the purchaser. The sale terminates all patent rights to that item. - directly from the SCOTUS opinion.

The court praised the 妬mpeccable historic pedigree of the exhaustion doctrine, tracing its lineage back to the common law痴 refusal to permit restraints on the alienation of chattels. With a flourish of rhetorical excess, the court suggested that post-sale conditions on alienation 塗ave been hateful to the law from Lord Coke痴 day to ours and are obnoxious to the public interest. The inconvenience and annoyance to the public that an opposite conclusion would occasion are too obvious to require illustration.

 

[TheMan419]

I think what you will see, assuming the software type rulings go the same way, is that you will see more denial of warranty claims made. JD will state that you modified the software and thus voided warranty. Manguson-Moss act says they cannot void the warranty if you buy consumables from other sources. However they can say that the Hydro fluid you bought from TSC did not meet the standard they need and thus the warranty is void.

 

[coldsteelva]

They cannot just STATE or CLAIM that the warranty is void, they have to actually PROVE that your modification or alteration was a proximate cause of whatever failed. Then, and only then can they void the warranty on THAT ASPECT ONLY, not the entire tractor.

For example, if I put a cold air intake on my vehicle, then the warranty is gone for the original intake. If I drive for 500 miles and my axle breaks, my alteration of the intake does not void the entire warranty.


As for the ruling, if you buy a pistol and use it as a hammer to pound in nails, the pistol manufacturer cannot sue you and tell you not to use the pistol as a hammer.

 

[murph1]

You will be leasing tractors instead of buying them like Microsoft is doing with their
software.

 

[Coyote machine]

You will be leasing tractors instead of buying them like Microsoft is doing with their
software.

No problem there. I like leasing items like all my vehicles. It's just renting new keys every several years. If the car is a total headache it goes back to the selling dealer.
Many manufacturers make it all but impossible to fix their cars without dealer participation. If a dash cluster, for instance goes out under warranty, as it did on one of my Volvos, the new part can only be synchronized with the car's serial number, etc. by the dealer's computer system in contact, back then, with Trollhatten or Guthenberg, or wherever the then headquarters was.
Don't get me wrong, I want to be able to use my gun as a hammer, or my hammer as a gun if applicable.
Corporations are not people and as things are currently corporations hold WAY too much power, and have exercised it over the little man/consumer.
It's time to take back what we buy/own and tell the manufacturers to kiss off in no uncertain terms. After all, they work for us, but seem to have forgotten that in the greed infested world in which corporate thing lives and breaths. Power to the people! US! USA, NOT corporate USA.:thumbsup:

 

[Garrett Wiggins]

They cannot just STATE or CLAIM that the warranty is void, they have to actually PROVE that your modification or alteration was a proximate cause of whatever failed. Then, and only then can they void the warranty on THAT ASPECT ONLY, not the entire tractor.

For example, if I put a cold air intake on my vehicle, then the warranty is gone for the original intake. If I drive for 500 miles and my axle breaks, my alteration of the intake does not void the entire warranty.


As for the ruling, if you buy a pistol and use it as a hammer to pound in nails, the pistol manufacturer cannot sue you and tell you not to use the pistol as a hammer.

You are exactly right, but to go against a big manufacture like that wouldn't be money well spent. You would lose more money than the repair would be worth fighting it.

 

[Dadnatron]

You are exactly right, but to go against a big manufacture like that wouldn't be money well spent. You would lose more money than the repair would be worth fighting it.

I think what will happen is that aftermarket parts will become easier to install. While JD won't have to do it, they also won't be able to limit it being done, ie software locks. I suspect this will be the ruling sometime down the road.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

No problem there. I like leasing items like all my vehicles. It's just renting new keys every several years. If the car is a total headache it goes back to the selling dealer.
Many manufacturers make it all but impossible to fix their cars without dealer participation. If a dash cluster, for instance goes out under warranty, as it did on one of my Volvos, the new part can only be synchronized with the car's serial number, etc. by the dealer's computer system in contact, back then, with Trollhatten or Guthenberg, or wherever the then headquarters was.
Don't get me wrong, I want to be able to use my gun as a hammer, or my hammer as a gun if applicable.
Corporations are not people and as things are currently corporations hold WAY too much power, and have exercised it over the little man/consumer.
It's time to take back what we buy/own and tell the manufacturers to kiss off in no uncertain terms. After all, they work for us, but seem to have forgotten that in the greed infested world in which corporate thing lives and breaths. Power to the people! US! USA, NOT corporate USA.:thumbsup:

Just buy older trucks and cars instead lol, my 81 F150 doesn't even have a dash cluster, nor a/c or a factory radio, no worries about breakdowns there lmao.

 

[Dadnatron]

Farmerjohn... those parts are going to become harder and harder to find.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Farmerjohn... those parts are going to become harder and harder to find.

I thought so too until I needed parts, I have replaced the break booster, master cylinder, front rotors/ disks/ pads, radiator cap, power steering cap, oil air breather, exhaust, installed a cat 5 receiver, both upper and lower coolant hoses, both heater core rubber hoses, starter, starter solenoid, all new tires and passenger side mirror.

All parts I was able to get by 4pm that day from Advance or Napa, all brand new or OEM Ford parts and they were all cheap, every time anything goes wrong it's an easy fix and cheap, eventually stock will run dry but until then I will keep fixing this truck. In the pst year I haven't had any troubles out of the truck, I have owned it 4-5 years now and work it often.

It's a 2wd, single cab with an 8ft bed, 4.9 strait 6, rubber floors, manual windows and locks, nothing to brag about but it's been the most reliable, easiest to fix and cheapest to own truck I have ever had. I would like a newer heavier truck but this one always gets the job done, I have swapped a lot of aged and worn out parts but it's never left me stranded.

In the last 6 months alone I have hauled over 11k lbs of hay for the cattle, tandem trailer is 2750lbs and the single axle is around 1500lbs. After the tractor is paid off (4-5 years) I will upgrade the truck.

I'm in the process of wiring up a break controller, 7 and 4 pin trailer hook up and put the cat 5 receiver on it, all that was under $300, I won't have to worry about losing a load due to towing on the (5k lb) bumper.