Lame Duck Watch: Right to Repair Bill Threatens an Owners Right to Intellectual Property
A theme regular blog readers know is the way in which innocuous-sounding legislation can inflict damage to businesses and how quickly it can remove incentives to create the modern technology that has become part of our everyday lives. The second installment of Lame Duck Watch highlights such a bill.
A931/S2533 would require auto manufacturers to deliver virtually unfettered access to their technology to auto repair shops. Consumer advocacy groups would have you believe the legislation will give you a wider variety of choices and reduce costs. Unfortunately, the bill uses auto manufacturers as a test case for violating intellectual property rights and removes the present, inherent requirements for repair shops to remain updated on all the technologies and changes to modern cars. All this to create a solution where there is not yet a problem.
According to Consumer Reports, only about 0.2% to 1.2% of the nearly 400 million automobile repairs performed last year encountered a problem gaining access to information to complete the job. One of the reasons for this is that the Automotive Service Association-Automaker Agreement is in place to provide independent repairers access to service, tool and training information. Remember that with 400 million annual repairs, auto manufacturers rely on independent repair shops, meaning it is in their best interest to ensure the repair shops remain up to speed on changes and advancements. One of the best forums to communicate and ensure cooperation between the service industry and automakers is the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF).
NASTF is a cooperative effort among the automotive service industry, the equipment and tool industry, and automotive manufacturers to ensure that service professionals have the information, training and tools needed to properly diagnose and repair today’s high-tech vehicles. By investing in proper equipment and subscribing to available web-based information services, legitimate repair shops can gain access to nearly all information. The only information to which repair shops cannot gain access relates to vehicle security systems, smart codes and engine immobilizer overrides.
In addition, there are legitimate concerns that this legislation is an effort by aftermarket part manufacturers to gain access to proprietary vehicle information that will enable them to more readily build cheap, knock-off parts. The legislation requires manufactures to forfeit intellectual property (without compensation) to “any vehicle owner or repairer” including all “information necessary to diagnosis, service or repair a motor vehicle.” Through NASTF, manufacturers already provide this information. This bill goes much further by also requiring manufacturers to provide information “necessary to integrate replacement equipment in the vehicle.” This exposes the intellectual property and integrity of automobile parts.
Congress already considered this legislation and said no way. Now, advocates are attempting to – once again – put an additional requirement on businesses operating within New Jersey. The General Assembly and Senate would be wise to follow the lead of Congress and dismiss this bill in high gear.
