It would ban “parts pairing,” which lets companies control when and how you replace components.
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Oregon’s landmark right-to-repair law is nearly here — today, SB 1596 passed the Oregon legislature, and is headed to Governor Tina Kotek’s desk to sign or veto within the next five days. It’s a big deal, because the Oregon law would be the first to ban “parts pairing,” a practice where companies can keep you from using components (sometimes even official ones) unless that company’s software is satisfied that they belong.
Similar to California’s right-to-repair law, the Oregon bill also requires companies to make the same parts, tools, and repair documents available to any owners that it offers to authorized repair shops, and without charging any more for them.
It doesn’t specify a number of years that companies need to make those items available, though — California mandates seven years, while the Oregon bill suggests companies could simply stop producing them. It also comes with typical carveouts for video game consoles, medical devices, HVAC equipment, energy storage, various kinds of engines… and electric toothbrushes.
Like California and Minnesota’s laws, it wouldn’t apply to phones sold before July 1st, 2021. But for all other gadgets, it goes all the way back to July 1st, 2015.
The ban on parts pairing wouldn’t apply to any existing device, though — only consumer electronics manufactured after January 1st, 2025.
The bill passed the Oregon senate on February 20th with a vote of 25-5, and passed Oregon’s house today with a vote of 42-13. Apple came out against Oregon’s right-to-repair bill ahead of those votes, even though it eventually wound up supporting the California one.
We spoke with iFixit CEO Kyle Weins about parts pairing, and how the fight for right-to-repair was just getting started, on this October episode of The Vergecast:
Today, Weins says he’s “beyond proud of my home state for passing the strongest-yet electronics Right to Repair bill.”
