The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with attorneys general from Illinois and Minnesota, filed a lawsuit against John Deere manufacturer Deere and Company on Wednesday, Jan. 15, charging the agriculture machinery giant with engaging in practices that allegedly force farmers to rely on its authorized dealers for critical equipment repairs.
According to the FTC’s complaint, these alleged tactics have inflated costs for American farmers and deprived them of the ability to quickly fix the tractors and combines they depend on for planting and harvesting.
The lawsuit alleged that Deere holds monopoly power in certain repair services for its own agricultural equipment, partly due to its exclusive control over a fully functional software repair tool called “Service ADVISOR.”…