Feels like the best approach is to encourage farmers to boycot at least one of the major tractor providers until these restrictions are removed. No new laws or lawsuits needed -- just some collective action.
What's most likely to happen is farmers will just keep modifying their machinery at will. It's already common place to chip your engine, or to physically modify machines/implements to improve performance or your production methods. I don't see that changing anytime soon.
It sounds vindictive and harsh, until you consider that's exactly how the legal system is used all the time.
We stopped buying Smith and Wesson firearms and their profits dropped like a stone. They thought that the increased business from the Federal government would make up for lost civilian sales but those Federal sales weren't what they were expecting and the civilian boycott was bigger than they expected.
It got so bad for the company that the owners had to sell it to get out from under the deal.
Look out, here comes China/Korea. Surely this policy of restricted software editing is intended to do one of two things:
1. force customers into dealerships for updates/repairs
2. stop a Chinese tractor appearing in the US market using the same or almost same but modified software that John Deere developed.
If it's the 1st then farmers will choose an alternative machine for future purchases, the tractor market in Europe at least has 20 brands jostling for market share.
If the 2nd argument is true, surely a license that allows users to modify and repair all the while restricting modified or original source from being distributed with the sale of a product, including resales, would solve this issue.