Winners & losers: John Deere, the largest agriculture machinery company in the world, has long been a source of anger for right-to-repair advocates. Now, it may have to pay out $99 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it of monopolizing repairs for its agricultural equipment.

The proposed settlement still needs court approval, and Deere says the agreement includes no admission of wrongdoing – despite it paying almost $100 million.

The payout would cover farmers, ranchers, and other buyers who paid Deere-authorized dealers for certain repairs on large agricultural equipment from January 10, 2018, through the date of preliminary approval.

Deere has also agreed to provide access to the digital tools needed to maintain, diagnose, and repair tractors, combines, and other large machines for 10 years. According to court filings, that recovery could equal roughly 26% to 53% of estimated overcharge damages, which is far above the usual range for antitrust settlements.

Deere has spent years as one of the clearest examples of how modern hardware can be controlled long after it is sold. In 2023, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation, which was pitched as a concession to the right-to-repair movement.

But by 2024, Deere was still being accused of failing to live up to the spirit of that agreement. Colorado lawmakers clearly felt the same way when they passed the first state right-to-repair law for farmers, arguing that voluntary promises were vague, incomplete, and unenforceable.

Deere's reputation in this fight was not helped by the other controversies. The company was scolded over GPL compliance and on the now-infamous jailbreak that got Doom running on Deere machinery, both of which reinforced the impression of a company more interested in locking down its ecosystem than letting owners to fix what they bought.

Deere still faces a separate FTC antitrust lawsuit, and at least one independent repair technician told KCRG that, settlement or not, "nothing's changed" for people in the field trying to fix software-tied equipment without dealer intervention.

In other right-to-repair news, it was reported last week that major tech companies are backing a Colorado bill that critics say could seriously weaken protections for consumers and independent repair shops.