The notorious unreliability of McDonald’s soft-serve machines, often out of order, has sparked jokes and memes, and even emerged as a topic in the current presidential race. This widespread issue has led to the creation of McBroken, an online tracker monitoring broken machines across the United States.
A recent amendment to copyright law could facilitate quicker repairs for these machines, potentially improving the ice cream chain’s tarnished reputation. Previously, repairs could only be conducted by the machines’ manufacturers due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which protected the embedded code in the ice cream makers. This law made it illegal for third parties, including McDonald’s staff and franchise owners, to bypass the digital locks installed by the manufacturers.
As of this week, a new rule allows independent vendors to repair “retail-level commercial food preparation equipment,” encompassing McDonald’s ice cream machines, as noted by 404 media journalist Jason Koebler in an interview with NPR’s Weekend Edition.
This change is a victory for the “right to repair” movement, which advocates for consumer access to the parts, tools, and service information necessary to repair products. This movement has gained traction in recent years, highlighted by Apple’s 2021 announcement allowing customers to repair their own iPhones.
While the new rule affects various devices and equipment, McDonald’s ice cream machines have captured particular attention, especially leading up to the presidential election. Just days before the rule took effect, former President Donald Trump shared a photoshopped image on X, featuring him at a McDonald’s drive-thru alongside a mock-up of President Biden with an ice cream cone, pledging, “WHEN I’M PRESIDENT THE MCDONALD’S ICE CREAM MACHINES WILL WORK GREAT AGAIN!”
However, the Biden administration appears to have preempted that promise. Federal regulators have shown support for right-to-repair advocates who sought the exemption for food preparation equipment. In March, both the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department recommended this change to the U.S. Copyright Office.
Organizations like iFixit, a repair advocacy website, and Public Knowledge, a nonprofit consumer group, were instrumental in petitioning for the new exemption.
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