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Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
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…