It has been a long road for McDonald’s ice cream machines, and it hasn’t always been sweet. But now, the story of the eternally broken McDonald’s ice cream machine finally has a happy ending. You see, McDonald’s has worked with the same company to create its ice cream machines since 1956, the Taylor Company. But for the duration of this partnership, it was literally illegal for anyone other than a Taylor Company representative to fix a McDonald’s ice cream machine. When machines broke, McDonald’s store owners and employees were literally not allowed by the law to fix the machines themselves. Thus, it seemed like McDonald’s ice cream machines were always broken.
But now, after several different petitions, the law has changed, and we can all have that delicious soft-serve whenever we want it again. The U.S. Copyright Office recently issued new exemptions. The legalese is confusing, but the bottom line is that these exemptions will allow restaurants to repair equipment used in “retail-level commercial food preparation.” And, yep, you guessed it, the McDonald’s ice cream machines fall under that umbrella. This ruling might seem a bit frivolous, but it will offer a notable problem quick relief.
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As we saw on USA Today, Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, stated, “There’s nothing vanilla about this victory; an exemption for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and enable businesses to better serve their customers.” And hey, we support whatever is good for the customer, especially if there’s a sweet treat involved.
Different groups, including iFixit, have shared that it feels like McDonald’s ice cream machines are not really that difficult to fix if broken. Reporter Elizabeth Chamberlain noted she saw “lots of easily replaceable parts” inside the contraption. In 2021, a company called Kytch was also able to create a diagnostic tool that franchise owners could use to fix their own machines without the help of outside representatives.
In the end, it was the strange law and not the machines themselves that kept McDonald’s ice cream broken and ice cream out of the hands of hungry consumers. Hopefully, with the new U.S. Copyright Office exemptions, our days of going ice cream-less are gone for good. The time of broken ice cream machines is over. The age of the McFlurry is now!
