Device-initiated warranty claims between agents

A connected appliance or phone often knows it is failing before its owner does. It logs fault codes, sensor readings and failed self-tests. Today that knowledge rarely reaches a warranty claim: the owner notices a problem, calls support, reads out a serial number and repeats the diagnostics over the phone. An agent-to-agent version lets the device, or the owner’s agent acting on the device’s report, prepare a claim with proof of the device’s identity and a minimal slice of telemetry, get the owner’s approval, and send it to the manufacturer’s warranty agent.

This page is about claims that start from the device and the data they carry. A person-initiated claim for a product bought online is a different flow.

How it works today

1. The owner notices a fault, sometimes days after the device first logged it.
2. They find the manufacturer’s support channel and prove ownership and purchase date, usually with a receipt.
3. A support representative walks them through diagnostics the device may already have run.
4. The manufacturer decides on a remedy: a remote fix, a part, a repair visit, a mail-in repair or a replacement.

The rules around the claim are changing:

• United States. Under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a warrantor may not condition a warranty on the use of a branded article or service unless it is provided free under the warranty or the FTC waives the rule (15 U.S.C. 2302(c)). The FTC’s 2021 report to Congress, Nixing the Fix, found little evidence to support manufacturers’ justifications for repair restrictions.
• US states. New York’s Digital Fair Repair Act covers digital electronic equipment first made for and sold or used in the state on or after 1 July 2023, and requires manufacturers to make documentation, tools and parts available. Minnesota’s Digital Fair Repair law applies to equipment sold on or after 1 July 2021. California’s Right to Repair Act, in effect since 1 July 2024, requires documentation, parts and tools for at least three years for products with a wholesale price of $50 to $99.99 and at least seven years above that.
• Quebec. A new guarantee of good working order applies to new goods sold or leased from 5 October 2026. It covers stoves, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and heat pumps for six years; washers, dryers and dishwashers for five; televisions for four; and computers, game consoles, phones and tablets for three. The consumer may go to either the merchant or the manufacturer.

Longer guarantees and shared repair information mean more claims, from more parties, over a longer life. Most of those devices already produce the evidence.

The agent-to-agent version

Illustrative. A dishwasher logs a repeated drain pump fault. The owner’s home agent, which the dishwasher reports to, prepares a claim, shows the owner exactly what will be shared, and sends it after the owner approves:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "SendMessage",
  "params": {
    "message": {
      "messageId": "msg-wc-dw-0931-1",
      "role": "ROLE_USER",
      "parts": [
        { "text": "Warranty claim: drain pump fault repeated on 6 of the last 9 cycles. The owner approved sharing the data below." },
        {
          "data": {
            "model": "DW-EX-400",
            "serialNumber": "DWX4-0019-2231",
            "attestation": "Matter device attestation certificate chain attached",
            "purchase": { "date": "2026-11-02", "retailer": "Example Appliances", "proof": "receipt-attached" },
            "faultCode": "E24",
            "occurrences": { "cycles": 9, "withFault": 6, "firstSeen": "2027-03-14" },
            "sharedTelemetryWindowDays": 14
          },
          "mediaType": "application/json"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Then:

1. The manufacturer’s agent checks the attestation, confirms the model is certified, and matches the serial number and purchase date against the coverage period.
2. It asks one question through TASK_STATE_INPUT_REQUIRED: has the filter been cleaned in the last month? The home agent asks the owner and replies.
3. The manufacturer’s agent offers a remedy: ship a pump to a local authorized technician and book a visit. The owner picks a time.
4. Only the fault code and the 14-day window left the house. The full usage history did not.

What has to be true

Identity. Three identities matter. The device: Matter devices carry a device attestation certificate that shows the device is authentic and certified, and manufacturers publish certified product models to the Distributed Compliance Ledger. The owner: proof of purchase, which becomes harder for second-hand devices, gifts and rentals. The manufacturer’s agent: the home agent must know it is sending data to the real manufacturer, not a claims scam.

Authority. The owner decides. A device can prepare a claim, but filing it shares personal data and starts a commercial process, so the owner approves each claim or sets narrow standing rules, such as “file claims for this device’s covered faults and show me afterwards”. Any standing permission must be revocable.

Record, and privacy. Telemetry from a home device is personal information. It can reveal routines, occupancy and, for TVs, what people watch. In 2017 the FTC and New Jersey settled with VIZIO over smart TVs that collected viewing data without consent; the order required prominent disclosure and affirmative express consent before collection. Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner asks organizations to make clear what is collected, with whom it is shared, why, and what risks follow, to offer a clear yes or no for anything not essential, and to treat consent as ongoing. For a warranty claim that means: share the fault evidence and the window around it, state how long the manufacturer keeps it, and keep a record of exactly what was shared.

Standards involved: Matter device attestation and the Distributed Compliance Ledger, Magnuson-Moss, state digital fair repair laws, Quebec’s consumer protection rules, US and Canadian privacy rules, and A2A for the claim exchange.

Where Emissar fits

• Resolve (in development) could turn a brand name or a support number into the manufacturer’s verified agent endpoint, so a home agent does not rely on a URL printed in a manual.
• Verify (in development) lets the manufacturer check which agent is calling and who built it, alongside the device’s own attestation.
• Mandate (spec in progress) is a proposal for the owner’s standing permission: this device, covered faults only, revocable.
• Ledger (spec in progress) keeps a signed record of the claim and exactly which data was shared.
• Handoff (in development) passes disputed claims to a person with the full exchange attached.

Open questions

• How does a second owner prove ownership when there is no receipt in their name?
• How much telemetry does a manufacturer need to rule out misuse, and who decides what is enough?
• Could telemetry be used to argue against claims after an independent repair, and how should agents handle that given Magnuson-Moss?
• Under Quebec’s guarantee the consumer may go to the merchant or the manufacturer. Which agent should a home agent contact first?
• What stops a compromised device from filing false claims at scale?