A quick visit to X (formerly Twitter) and other social networks will confirm that in the United States there is a very serious problem with McDonald's ice cream machines. More than 10 percent are out of service at any given time, and only their manufacturer, Taylor Company, is authorized to carry out repairs, making a fortune in the process. However, the folks at iFixit have decided to join forces with Public Knowledge to request a DMCA exemption from the Copyright Office, aimed at ice cream machines...
A page called McBroken.com documents with precision the state of the ice cream machines that McDonald's has installed in the United States and part of Canada. The most impressive thing is that the failure percentage ranges between 10 and 12 percent, very high for any "commercial grade" equipment. Reports from Europe suggest that their machines don't fail as frequently, and that obviously raises suspicions about the distribution of equipment of inferior quality on the other side of the pond.
Why? Because Taylor Company, the original manufacturer of the machines, maintains a special agreement with McDonald's that gives it exclusivity over repairs... at a cost of $144 for the first half hour, and $315 for each additional 15 minutes of technical service. Any attempt by franchisees to repair/replace the machines could provoke the fury of Emperor McDonald's, and the withdrawal of the franchise.
McDonald's ice cream and the right to repair
History tells us that two entrepreneurs, Melissa Nelson and Jeremy O'Sullivan, created a device called Kytch that presents clear, real-time information about the operation of Taylor machines, and more importantly, their strange error codes. McDonald's reaction was to warn its franchisees that Kytch accesses "confidential information" and that it "can cause injuries". The creators of Kytch responded with a $900 million lawsuit against McDonald's, arguing that the chain essentially destroyed their business.
But the machines remain broken... and that's when iFixit intervenes. Section 1201 of the DMCA makes it illegal to bypass security protections on certain devices, even when the goal is to repair them. The novelty is that iFixit will join forces with Public Knowledge to request a DMCA exemption. To date, all exemptions have focused on general consumer devices, but this takes the fight to the territory of commercial machines.
To conclude, I want to share the documentary that Johnny Harris created on the subject, which explains in greater depth the "failures" of these machines, Taylor's business with "repairs", and the information omitted from user manuals...
Official announcement: Click here
