50
votes
Copyright Office exemption makes McDonald’s ice cream machines repairable
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- Title
- McDonald's busted ice cream machines can now be fixed - legally
- Authors
- Emma Roth
- Published
- Oct 25 2024
- Word count
- 301 words
But of course. A full exemption would mean 3rd parties could create their own smart integrations that work better and cheaper than the first-party ones across the entirety of industry. And god forbid that this extends to residential uses.
I want to be able to replace my car's touchscreen with a third-party headstock that has proper buttons like the good old days.
Isn't right to repair a thing for personal use stuff?
Though what you're talking about is modifying - and it sounds like significant stuff, not just adding some paint or whatnot, so I'm sure there's other laws there... if you were trying to sell it, or I guess insurance issues, since it's a car?
It's strange, isn't it? You can take out your original brake calipers from your car and install completely new aftermarket thing (basically modifying the car) and it's ok. It almost sounds like a wild dream when you consider what other stuff you actually can't do! Like this change of the touchscreen for buttons.
This is the perfect way to understand how our IP laws are out of control. Proprietary software and trade secrets are basically equivalent to saying that not only can we not replace the brake calipers, you're not allowed to know what they look like, where they are, or even if they actually exist.
You hit the nail on the head, this is what I had in mind!
I can soooorta see touchscreen for buttons having a mild argument of "well you literally cannot have enough buttons to cover the full functionality of the touchscreen, and we put all the controls for x/y/z behind it", but that's already stretching.
The fact touchscreens were approved at all already shows a large amount of stupidity in my eyes.
I had a touchscreen android auto headstock that also was fully controlable by buttons.
Turns out 'up down left right' and an 'ok' butyon go a long way. Or a knob for quicks scrolling.
Yeah I’ve got something similar. Just the way I read the op implied they wanted no screen at all (which would be best but probably not possible)
You certainly can't get all the functionality with buttons. But things like fan, A/C, some basic multimedia controls (play, pause, nerx, previous, volume) should remain on the buttons. Leave LCD for the good part like writing the name of street into GPS or maybe setting up playlist (while he vehicle is stationary), but not for basic controls!
Okay, but those brake calipers have to go through a process of getting approved as being made in accordance to regulation, do they not? At least that's how it's done where I live (a much more heavily regulated country, so it may differ). I imagine that properly defining functionality and reliability regulation for a completely different control center would be much more difficult than for a relatively simple mechanical part.
Inspections for cars in the US can vary wildly depending on where you live. When I lived in Missouri I knew a few mechanics who would sign off on your car as long as the engine cranked and the windshield was mostly intact. Passing inspection has very different meanings depending on where you live and which mechanic you use here. The government doesn't give a shit as long as a mechanic with the proper credentials signs off on it.
At least in the new england area it seems like vehicle inspection is taken more seriously though.
For contrast, here in Czechia there are special "technical control stations" that are privately ran but heavily regulated down to the point that checking a car takes xx amount of minutes and there is a timetable for things that a mechanic is checking at minutes yy - zz, specifically what types of devices he is using to do that, he has to take photos of everything, the car cannot leave the garage before the time has ran out etc. And there are random checks from state inspectors seeing if this is indeed all happening.
This process was gradually made more strict and it has finally led to almost entirely stopping people from cheating, which I think was happening mostly with regards to emissions, but not exclusively, and the biggest problem was when it was truck companies doing it. It's a bit of a pain to go through this every two years and it feels like unreasonable government overreach when you're the one who never cheats and take care of your car, but unfortunately it seemed like it was necessary.
From this point of view replacing the whole frontend of a car's control center, even if it's not a Tesla where literally everything is done that way, seems like a big ordeal in the context of standardization.
Some areas don't even have them. My state only has emissions inspections required in certain counties. And no other regular required inspections.
You are right, those calipers should be approved.
The question is if this LCD is part of car control or just the "onboard" control (fan speed, A/C, multimedia...). Still - you can make calipers and get them approved but manufacturer may not give you necessary documentation for you to make custom button console instead of LCD.
That is what the lawsuit was about, some company creating a bolt-on diagnostic system. It would be little different from having someone reverse-engineer the proprietary diagnostic module that is built into my HVAC that can only be read by a technician.
When I have to give up my double din android unit for a factory junker I'm probably going to die.
I never really understood why McDonalds of all companies is okay having such shitty ice cream machines. You'd think that at their scale, they could either force the company to provide a more reliable machine that requires less vendor maintenance, or just switch vendors. I'm assuming that the equipment procurement person for McDonalds corporation is related to some sales person at Taylor or something shady like that.
Short answer: Contracts.
Slightly longer answer: Apparently Ray Kroc made a handshake deal with the Taylor Company that they could be the exclusive supplier for ice cream machines.
I'm with you that I can't understand why they haven't been axed for incompetency and/or lack of services. McDonald's does have another partner nowadays but the main partner is still Taylor's. Pretty sure McDonald's partially owns Taylor's too.
Probably because it's one more thing that keeps the franchisees under control of the franchisor?
Contracts don't last forever, though. A contract is generally for a period of time, and McDonalds has had this problem for a very long time (20+ years).
If Mcdonalds has partial ownership of Taylor's, that's all the more influence that they have to fix the problem.