McDonald’s always-broken ice cream machines might finally get easier to fix. That’s because the
US Copyright Office granted an exemption
allowing third parties to diagnose and repair commercial equipment — including the ones that make your McFlurries.
Now, franchise owners will be able to break through the digital locks that have blocked them from repairing McDonald’s ice cream machines for years. According to the Copyright Office, the exemption will allow people to diagnose, perform maintenance, and repair “retail-level commercial food preparation equipment.” McDonald’s ice cream machines have become so notorious for breaking that someone even
created a tool to track broken machines.
The decision is part of the Copyright Office’s final rule granting exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This exemption-making process happens every three years and is supposed to ensure that the DMCA doesn’t negatively impact people trying to use copyrighted material.
