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It may soon get quicker and easier to get your McFlurry fix — and McDonald’s franchisees won’t have to break the law to make it happen.
The US Copyright Office has granted a long-anticipated exemption that allows third parties to diagnose and repair broken machines — including the chronically broken devices that serve up ice cream at McDonald’s, the Verge reported.
Under the new rules, McDonald’s franchisees will be allowed to break through the digital locks that for years have prevented them from quickly and easily fixing the glitchy soft-serve machines.
The ice cream problem has been a long-simmering beef with McDonald’s customers.
There is even a dedicated website, McBroken, that tracks which locations have a working machine.
More than 30% of McFlurry machines in New York are currently out of service, according to McBroken, which shows red dots littering its map of Big Apple McDonald’s locations.
Franchisees were previously blocked from fiddling with the machines under a copyright law that prevented anyone other than the manufacturer, Taylor Company, from bypassing the software locks.
In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into the broken McFlurry machines after franchise owners complained they were losing out on sales and customers griped.
Franchise owners often waited 90 days for machine repairs, which cost “over $300 per fifteen minutes” while restaurants lost $625 in sales daily waiting for the equipment fixes, the FTC and Department of Justice said in a joint filing earlier this year.
Both US agencies supported the exemption, claiming the current system prevented fair competition.
“Renewing and expanding repair-related exemptions would promote competition in markets for replacement parts, repair, and maintenance services, as well as facilitate competition in markets for repairable products,” the agencies wrote in the filing.
Now, machines should be up and running sooner since McDonald’s locations will be able to call on third parties instead of waiting on Taylor.
The new rule took effect on Monday.
The creators of Kytch – a gadget that can be placed inside the ice cream machine, hack the software locks and troubleshoot operation issues – attempted to fix this problem.
As the device gained recognition and more franchise owners made use of it, McDonald’s claimed Kytch violated the machines’ warranties and posed a risk of serious injury.
The fast-food chain banned franchisees from using the machines in 2020.
Kytch later sued Taylor in 2021 after the manufacturer allegedly obtained one of the Kytch devices and reverse-engineered it.
The couple behind Kytch sued McDonald’s in 2022 after the company forbade locations from using the devices.
McDonald’s, Taylor and Kytch did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Copyright Office’s ruling is part of a final decision granting exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Exemptions to Section 1201 are issued every three years, as per the Register of Copyrights’ recommendation.
Advocacy group Public Knowledge and iFixit, a website for parts, tools and repair guides, have long been pushing for the exemption.
“There’s nothing vanilla about this victory; an exemption for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and enable businesses to better serve their customers,” Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, said in a statement.
