Article · Intellectual Property and Technology

The Right to Repair Reckoning: IP Limits on Post-Sale Product Control

Type
Article
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2026-01-30
Topic
Intellectual Property and Technology

Manufacturers have spent two decades converting intellectual property into a tool for controlling products long after the sale, using copyright and the DMCA, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets to decide who may fix what a customer already owns. That control is now being unwound on several fronts at once. This article maps the state of the law as of early 2026: a widening set of state electronics-repair statutes, the new prohibitions on parts pairing, the EU Right to Repair Directive taking national effect across the bloc, the FTC's suit against Deere, and the Copyright Office's expanding triennial DMCA exemptions. It works through each IP lever manufacturers deploy and shows exactly where doctrine now blunts it, anchoring the analysis in primary authority from Impression Products v. Lexmark and Eastman Kodak v. Image Technical Services to Automotive Body Parts v. Ford. Two hypothetical actors, a device maker and an independent shop, carry the compliance questions the new regime forces. Written for manufacturers, repairers, aftermarket suppliers, and the counsel advising them.

The Right to Repair Reckoning: IP Limits on Post-Sale Product Control

Intellectual Property and Technology > Copyright | Published 30 January 2026 - Updated 7 February 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

In brief. For twenty years, manufacturers have used intellectual property to keep control of the things they sell after they sell them, routing repair through their own dealer networks and pocketing the aftermarket. Four IP levers do the work: copyright and the DMCA, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. Each is now being cut back. A growing roster of states has enacted electronics right-to-repair statutes, several banning "parts pairing." The European Union's Right to Repair Directive takes national effect across the bloc by mid-2026. The Federal Trade Commission has sued Deere over repair-software restrictions. The Supreme Court's Impression Products decision has strangled patent-based control, and the Copyright Office keeps widening the DMCA exemptions that legalize the circumvention repair requires. This article maps the doctrine and the compliance choices it forces. It is a research resource, not legal advice; consult qualified IP counsel on specific facts.

The full text of this document is available to Executive subscribers and above. See plans.