A French man has become at least the fourth person to gain a refund for a copy of Windows that came pre-installed on a new computer. This looks to be the first case, though, where a court has ordered the refund.
Microsoft’s general policy is that it sells Windows to the retailer and the retailer then sells it to the customer as part of the computer package. If you don’t want Windows (for example, if you want to run Linux on the machine), that’s between you and the retailer. That policy is covered by the End User License Agreement which you click to approve before using Windows.
In the three previous cases:
The new case went as far as several court rulings. Stephane Petrus bought a Lenovo laptop and asked for a refund, citing a French law that says you cannot make the sale of one product dependent on the sale of another. The French court initially rejected that, ruling he should simply return the PC. An appeals court later ordered a retrial, saying the original judge had not fully considered a European directive on unfair commercial practices. Such directives must be adopted in the domestic law of European Union member countries.
The original court has now ruled in Petrus’ favor. It did reject his somewhat baffling estimate that of the €597 price of the computer, €404.81 was made up of the Windows license. Instead the court ordered Lenovo to hand over €120 as a refund, but a further €800 in damages for making him take the case through the courts, and €1,000 to cover legal costs.
Not only does this establish a legal precedence in French law, but the European Union directive angle means people across the continent may now have a stronger argument for saying they have a legal right to a Windows refund in their own country.
(Image credit: Alan Lord/The Open Sourceror)
For today’s edition of “Deal of the Day,” here are some of the best deals…
https://youtu.be/dIjPSDqKy8c?si=Jg6gaMmfU429-jr3 The world of BioShock (and Rapture!) reimagined as a classic Film Noir from the…
https://youtu.be/ZOtD36BjmU0?si=3yD8ic1l1y8HlzU8 From Dorkly: Disney really messed up Star Wars... No, not because of the "woke"…
Have you ever wondered how gas masks work? If this is the case, be sure…
Happy Star Wars day! For this very special occasion, today's edition of deal of the…