AGCO Seeks Rare Appeal in FTC's Right-to-Repair Lawsuit Against John Deere

AGCO has asked a federal court to allow what is a rare appeal in an ongoing right-to-repair lawsuit brought against John Deere by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, after a judge ruled in August that Deere would have access to confidential business information from competitors.

AGCO filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois at the end of last week, asking the court to certify an Aug. 8, 2025, opinion and order on the data question. Doing so would allow AGCO to file for interlocutory appeal.

Interlocutory review is an appeal of a non-final court order while other parts of a case are pending. Such an appeal is a rare exception to the final judgement rule that typically requires parties to wait until entire cases are resolved before filing appeals.

The district court ruled Deere has the right to access documents obtained by the FTC as part of its investigation into allegations that the company has illegally monopolized the farm equipment repair market by not allowing farmers to make specific repairs to their own tractors and other equipment.

Deere was granted access to what CNH Industrial, Kubota and AGCO have called the "crown jewels" of sensitive business information including pricing data, financial reports and sales information. The same data would then be given to the 16 farmer plaintiffs in another ongoing lawsuit.

AGCO wants to be allowed to file an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, asking for review on whether the district court's order was legal.