In a letter to the U.S. Copyright Office this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust division called for exemptions for "commercial soft serve machines" from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a law that makes it difficult for franchise owners to do their own repairs or hire a third-party repair technician. 

Currently, only technicians licensed by the company that makes McDonald’s soft serve ice cream machines are allowed to do digital repairs.

The joint letter to the Copyright Office said, "In the Agencies’ view, renewing and expanding repair-related exemptions would promote competition in markets for replacement parts, repair, and maintenance services, as well as facilitate competition in markets for repairable products."