Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
Most goods of utility in the modern world by their nature or by design have a limited useful life. However, in order to maximise the lifespan of these goods, the purchasers of these goods should have the ability to repair them. This is not simply a matter of consumer rights, but indeed an incident of ownership of personal property. The ability to repair goods offers significant economic benefit to industries, small or large, by saving costs, promoting efficiency, and avoiding waste. Furthermore, preventing waste is an integral part of the sustainability goals that seek to promote responsible production and consumption. Moving beyond the goods of daily use to medical equipment, the ease of access to repair services for hospitals and individuals alike could save lives. There are, therefore, important policy reasons why enabling repair should be an integral and essential part of our legal system. There are, at the same time, several hurdles to an effective legal regime enabling repair. It is no surprise that there have been worldwide movements and activism around ‘right to repair’. At the heart of it is a demand that a person seeking to repair their products should be able to access repair services conveniently and at a competitive price. The movement encompasses a wide array of products ranging from items of personal utility such as mobile phones and laptops to industrial machinery such as tractors and medical equipment. Repair services may concern the provision of physical spare parts or, as is increasingly the case, working with the software embedded in the physical machinery. The need for repair arises not only for consumers as the end users with the least bargaining power, but also for businesses. Indeed, entire industries may be affected by the challenges surrounding access to repair. This paper examines what these hurdles and challenges might be in the UK and whether private law may assist in the provision of effective right to repair.

Mysoor, Poorna, Private Law, IP, and the Right to Repair (December 17, 2023).