McDonald’s Gets a Big Win in the Case of Its Chronically Broken Ice Cream Machines

McDonald’s is one step closer to ditching its reputation for broken ice cream machines.

The United States Copyright Office granted a copyright exemption on Oct. 25, giving restaurants like McDonald’s the “right to repair” broken machines by circumventing digital locks that prevent them from being fixed by anyone outside of the original manufacturer.

The machines responsible for McDonald’s iconic cones and McFlurries have been made by Taylor Company for nearly seven decades as part of an exclusive partnership. The Taylor Company also holds a copyright on its machines, making it so only the business’ repair people were legally allowed to fix broken devices, Wired reported in 2021.

These restrictions stem from 1998’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology, devices or services that circumvent the control access of copyrighted works.

On Oct. 28, the exemption granted by the United States Copyright Office went into effect after being petitioned for by repair website iFixIt and advocacy group Public Knowledge. The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission filed comments in support of their petition.

The full request was not granted, but retail-level commercial food preparation equipment received an exemption to allow third parties to bypass digital locks on machines for repairs.

“Today’s recommendations are a victory for everyone: franchise owners, independent repair shops, and anyone who’s had to bribe their kids with a chilly treat on lengthy road trips,” said Meredith Rose, Senior Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge, in a statement. “It’s been a long and rocky road to secure a right to repair, and while there are plenty of dips and twists ahead, today’s decision from the Copyright Office will lead to an overdue shake-up of the commercial food prep industry.”

“There’s nothing vanilla about this victory; an exemption for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and enable businesses to better serve their customers,” Rose continued. “While we are disappointed that the Register recommended a narrower exemption than we had proposed, this does not soften our enthusiasm. We will continue to chip away at half-baked laws blocking the right to repair, sprinkling consumer victories as we go. Today’s win may not be parfait, but it’s still pretty sweet.”