John Deere Gets Access to Competitor Data in FTC Case

by Ryan Hanrahan

Progressive Farmer’s Todd Neeley reported that “John Deere will have access to confidential business information from several of its competitors after those companies fought in court to prevent the release as part of ongoing anti-trust, right-to-repair lawsuits.”

“The U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Illinois ruled on Aug. 8 that Deere has the right to access the documents acquired by the Federal Trade Commission as part of its investigation into allegations the company has illegally monopolized the farm equipment repair market by not allowing farmers to make specific repairs to their own tractors and other equipment,” Neeley reported.

“Deere will have access to what CNH Industrial, Kubota and AGCO have called the ‘crown jewels’ of sensitive business information including pricing data, financial reports and sales information,” Neeley reported. “In addition, once Deere has access to the information, then the 16 farmer plaintiffs in another ongoing lawsuit will have them as well, according to the court’s order.”

“‘Allowing the FTC to have access to the confidential information, including the contested documents, but not allowing Deere the same access puts Deere at a fundamental disadvantage in this critical litigation,’ the court said in its ruling,” Neeley reported. “‘Without being trite, denying Deere access to this information is fundamentally unfair. Justice can’t be done unless all parties have equal access to relevant information.’”

“Also, the court said an existing confidentiality agreement in the case would protect the companies’ interests against misuse of the information,” Neeley reported. “The agreement limits who can view the documents, requires secure handling and mandates destruction once the court case is resolved.”

What Else Has Happened Recently in the Lawsuit?

The most recent development in the ongoing lawsuit prior to this, Ag Daily reported in mid-July, was that “a federal judge has denied requests from the Federal Trade Commission, five states, and farmer plaintiffs to compel John Deere to produce a key financial database in ongoing antitrust litigation focused on repair restrictions for agricultural equipment.”

“At the center of the dispute is Deere’s Dealer Financial Analysis dataset — a consolidated spreadsheet that includes detailed financial metrics such as dealer profitability, parts and service revenue, market share, cost absorption, and incentives,” AgDaily reported. “Plaintiffs argued that the DFA could shed light on Deere’s alleged monopolization of the repair-service market by showing how the company tracks and optimizes dealer profits.”

“However, U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston of the Northern District of Illinois ruled on July 7 that the DFA data was not proportional to the needs of the case, given the significant volume of financial data Deere had already produced,” AgDaily reported. “‘The court won’t subject Deere to even the minimal burden of producing DFA data that adds no real value when Deere has essentially already produced the information,’ Johnston wrote in the order.”

“Deere had previously turned over extensive discovery, including dealer scorecards, incentive data, transaction-level pricing on parts and repairs, and monthly performance reports,” AgDaily reported. “According to the court, the plaintiffs had received data that allowed them to manually conduct the same types of financial analyses the DFA automates.”

Deere Recently Announced New Repair Service Tool

AgWeb’s Matthew J. Grassi reported that “John Deere’s answer to the FTC Right To Repair lawsuit arrived last week in the form of a new digital diagnosis and repair product for John Deere machines and Hagie STS high-clearance sprayers and corn detasselers.”

“For $195 a year for each machine linked in a farmer’s Operations Center account, John Deere says customers in the U.S. and Canada can now ‘maintain, diagnose, repair and protect’ equipment. A John Deere customer with a large fleet of green and yellow machines can purchase the ‘Entire Organization Customer Fleet’ annual license for $4,995,” Grassi reported. “Independent service technicians are also able to obtain and use Operations Center PRO Service. That license costs $5,995 per year.”

“The tool is so fresh and new to the market farmers and technicians haven’t had time to put it to use,” Grassi reported. But “Beltway lobbyist and long-time Right to Repair advocate Willie Cade says he has the app and plans to spend the next couple weeks putting it through its paces. He cautions farmers to do their homework before they pay the license fees for the new app.”

“‘There’s been a long history of John Deere making these kinds of promises and not coming through,’ he says,” Grassi reported. “‘We really need to get this tool in hand and look through it.’”

John Deere Gets Access to Competitor Data in FTC Case was originally published by Farmdoc.