The US Copyright Office has announced an amendment to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, giving console owners the right to repair optical drives.
The ruling follows a petition by iFixit and rights group Public Knowledge, who argued that companies like Sony and Microsoft do not offer adequate repair services, and are increasingly making it difficult for console owners to repair their machines using third parties. iFixit also alleged that console manufacturers are “marrying” motherboards to optical drives to deter their repair, essentially forcing consumers to replace the entire console.
“Right to Repair” has been a point of contention between console manufacturers and consumers. As pointed out by Games Industry, it was only last month that Microsoft pledged to expand its Right to Repair options after being pressured by shareholders, who were concerned by federal and state authorities becoming increasingly involved in the ongoing debate.
The US Copyright Office has said that the ruling only applies to consoles with optical drives, not digital consoles. The Register wrote:
With respect to video game consoles, the recommended exemption is limited to one specific type of repair—namely, repair of optical drives. To be clear, if a console does not contain an optical drive, it is not eligible under this exemption; and if circumvention is done to repair any part of a console other than the optical drive, that activity too falls outside the scope of the exemption. Narrowing the exemption for consoles in this manner appropriately balances the specific adverse effects experienced by users against opponents’ legitimate concerns over links between console circumvention and piracy.
[Source: Copyright Office, Public Knowledge, Games Industry]
