(Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has prepared a lawsuit against Deere & Co alleging the company’s agricultural equipment repair practices violate competition laws, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report also said the FTC was prepared to file the case as soon as this week, over concerns that the farm equipment maker had withheld key information and diagnostic tools from farmers and independent repair shops.
The FTC’s commissioners have not taken a final vote on whether to file a case, according to the report.
Deere and the FTC did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The investigation was first authorized in 2021 and made public in October through a filing by data analytics company Hargrove & Associates Inc, which sought to quash an FTC subpoena seeking market data submitted to it by members of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
At the time, a Deere spokesperson said the company was cooperating with the FTC.
Hargrove’s filing said the FTC was probing whether Deere violated the Federal Trade Act’s section 5, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices affecting commerce.
The investigation looked into restrictions placed on customers’ “right to repair” the hardware or software they have purchased.
Deere also faces lawsuits from farmers on the same issue.
In June, Harley-Davidson persuaded a judge to dismiss a proposed class action claiming the company restricted customers’ “right to repair” while Tesla beat a similar lawsuit in November 2023 alleging that the automaker monopolizes repairs.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
