Deere and Co. agreed to provide farmers and independent repair shops access to the same equipment repair resources and software capabilities as authorized retailers for the next 10 years in a settlement agreement to a lawsuit filed by Wisconsin and four other states.
The lawsuit claimed the company unfairly prevented farmers and independent repair shops the ability to repair John Deere tractors and farm equipment.
Wisconsin was joined by Illinois, Arizona, Minnesota and the Federal Trade Commission in the lawsuit and the FTC will oversee the settlement agreement.
The company is currently the only place that has the software repair tools to perform electronic repairs on the equipment, the lawsuit claimed, which forced farmers to rely on only authorized dealers to make repairs and giving the company and its dealers monopoly power.
The settlement agreement means that Deere will provide the same resources to farmers and independent dealers under the same terms it provides the same to Deere authorized dealers.
The same applies to any new resources created over the next 10 years.
