Consumer advocacy groups urge House Judiciary leadership to hold a legislative hearing on right to repair

A coalition of 55 consumer advocacy groups sent a letter to House Judiciary Leadership on March 16 urging the lawmakers to hold a legislative hearing on the Freedom to Repair Act (H.R. 6566), a bipartisan bill that would reform copyright law to allow people to repair all manner of devices themselves without infringing on a protected copyright. “Companies that make products from tablets to tractors are using an oversight in copyright law to deny us the right to repair our own devices or take them to local small businesses,” the groups wrote in the letter. Bipartisan companion legislation to the House’s “right to repair” bill was also introduced March 16 by Sens Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). And the issue has become an increasingly popular grassroots movement, as consumers and businesses push for the ability to fix everything from phones to farm equipment to McFlurry machines without going through the original manufacturer. President Joe Biden asked the Federal Trade Commission to establish right to repair rules in his executive order on competition in 2021, and the agency in July said it will challenge overly restrictive repair policies imposed by companies. Businesses like Apple and John Deere, however, have sought to limit who can tinker with their devices, citing a need to protect proprietary information or prevent unauthorized changes that could undermine safety and performance standards.