This week: U.S. House asks “Is there a right to repair?”
A House Judiciary Subcommittee will hold a hearing this week to weigh the question “Is there a right to repair?” You can watch it live!
A subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives will hold a hearing this week that weighs questions around calls for a right to repair.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet will hold a hearing on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. EST. The hearing, titled ”Is There a Right to Repair?," will examine the current legal landscape of the right to repair and delve into intellectual property issues, as well as potential future avenues for policymaking.
Also on the agenda will be laws and regulations at the federal and state level and the implications for a range of industries from automotive to software to consumer electronics. Among other things, calls for changes to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) will be discussed. That law prevents circumvention of software locks and has been used to lock in manufacturers’ control over aftermarket service and repair.
Fight to Repair Editor in Chief Paul Roberts will be among those testifying in his capacity as founder of the group Secure Repairs (securepairs.org), a group of IT and cybersecurity pros who support the right to repair.
Other panelists will include Aaron Perzanowski, the Thomas W. Lacchia Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School and Kyle Wiens, the Co-founder and CEO, iFixit. Also speaking - in the repair skeptic category - are Devlin Hartline, a Legal Fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Forum for Intellectual Property and Scott Benavidez the Chairman of the Automotive Service Association.
The hearing comes as the U.S. Congress is considering a number of repair-related bills. They include The REPAIR Act, a proposed law modeled on a state law in Massachusetts that ensures consumers have access to data relating to their motor vehicles’ repair information, and tools, as well as the SMART Act, which would change laws related to the use of design patents.
You can watch the hearing live-streamed on YouTube. Click this link or the button below to check it out!
If money is free speech in the US, then buying a product you're not allowed to repair seems to me to be a violation of your free speech rights!