McDonald’s infamous ice cream machines have received a long-awaited fix.

The days of broken ice cream machines at McDonald’s may soon be behind us thanks to a new exception to an old law.

The U.S. Copyright Office has granted a partial exception to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 allowing third-party technicians to repair McDonald’s infamous ice cream and McFlurry machines. Before the exemption was issued last week, it was technically a criminal offense for anyone other than the machine’s manufacturer, Taylor, to repair copyrighted devices, leading to long wait times for what were described as “easy fixes” .

CONNECTED: McDonald’s E. coli outbreak linked to chopped onions rises to 90

Ice cream machines break down so often that one frustrated customer created a website dedicated to the phenomenon. mcbroken.com has an interactive map showing places in the US where McDonald’s ice cream machines are broken or working. He’ll also show you where to find Wendy’s restaurants instead – Wendy’s regularly trolls McDonald’s ice cream machines on social networks.

READ MORE: Wendy’s is targeting broken McDonald’s McFlurry machines with $1 Frostys.

According to USA today, Taylor has been the sole repairer for McDonald’s ice cream machines since 1956. Inc. Magazine reports that about 25% of the company’s revenue comes from maintenance and repair services.

Non-profit organization Social knowledge And iFixitThe repair community asked for an exemption from the U.S. Copyright Office after an investigation found the machines contained “numerous easily replaceable parts.”

“There is nothing vanilla about this victory; Exempting the tax on commercial cooking equipment at the retail level will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and allow businesses to better serve their customers,” said Meredith Rose, senior policy advisor at Public Knowledge. prepared statement.