January 31, 2026: The Right To Repair/RTR controversy has been going on for over fifty years. Manufacturers have a condition in contracts for sale of their products that buyers can’t repair those, and that only the sellers’ own employees or licensed contractors may do so. On one side are manufacturers who oppose RTR because RTR means they’d sell fewer products and lose the money they make from making repairs to their products and charging whatever they want. RTR also keeps their products in use longer, costing the manufacturer additional sales.

Enforcing RTR is a losing battle. Farmers, for example, cannot wait for authorized repairs to be made during planting or harvesting. The farmers either refuse to buy equipment that bans RTR or ignore it and make the repairs anyway.

For the military, it is possible for manufacturers to enforce RTR bans in peacetime. But in wartime, the troops will repair broken weapons and equipment because it’s a matter of life and death. Ukraine has received billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and equipment from the United States. The manufacturers sent technical representatives to assist the Ukrainians with use of the equipment and enforce any RTR bans. The Ukrainian go along with this most of the time. But if it's a matter of life or death the American tech reps are either moved out of the area for safety reasons, or tech reps who understand the Ukrainian position remain and assist the Ukrainians in making repairs.

RTR problems are one reason Ukraine builds most of the weapons it uses. These items are built to be easily repaired. It’s the same with the Russians and their weapons. The Ukrainians consider RTR restrictions as some crazy American quirk that they have to live with and work around as needed.

Meanwhile American consumers and businesses hurt by RTR rules pressure their politicians to outlaw RTR restrictions. There have been some laws passed to do this, but they face lawsuits from the firms opposing RTR bans. Officially, American military leaders say they will observe RTR bans. In reality, it is understood by all concerned that in a war American troops could and would make their own repairs. U.S. forces have been using 3-D printers and associated equipment to manufacture needed spare parts and make repairs.

RTR bans are seen as unenforceable in wartime and a growing number of peacetime owners of equipment are ignoring RTR bans.