CNN in New York —. A malfunctioning McDonald’s McFlurry machine, often seen as one of life’s major frustrations, has finally been addressed due to a court decision. McDonald’s franchises have struggled to repair the soft serve ice cream machines independently because the manufacturing company Taylor holds the copyright and exclusive rights for repairs — until recently. Last week, the United States Copyright Office provided a copyright exemption that allows restaurants the “right to repair” the machines by circumventing the digital locks that hindered repairs. The inability to make quick repairs has been a major frustration for customers, to the extent that a third-party website called McBroken was created. An exemption, requested by the advocacy group Public Knowledge and the repair website iFixIt, will take effect on Monday, enabling third parties to bypass digital locks on machines for repair purposes, and it involves a system that monitors their availability. While the entire request was not approved, commercial restaurant equipment was given a small exemption. Public Knowledge and iFixIt collaborated on this matter after iFixIt disassembled an ice cream machine and discovered many easily replaceable components. Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, stated that the decision will result in a much-needed transformation of the commercial food preparation industry. She remarked, “This victory is anything but ordinary; allowing exemptions for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will lead to increased third-party repair efforts and help businesses serve their customers more effectively.” McDonald’s and Taylor did not respond to CNN’s request for comments. The frequent malfunctioning of ice cream machines has tarnished McDonald’s reputation to the point where even rival companies make fun of them for it. A solution may be needed soon, as nearly 15% of ice cream machines were reported broken as of Monday, according to McBroken.
