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Lenovo Must Pay Damages for Pre-Installing Windows

posted by martyb on Tuesday March 02 2021, @05:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the windows-refund dept.

canopic jug writes:

The Free Software Foundation Europe(FSFE) (no connections to the Free Software Foundation(FSF), despite the name) has logged a win in Italy in court for the freedom to choose the operating system on new computers. Luca Bonissi won after two years of court battles. He won the first round in a kind of small claims court, but Lenovo responded by lawyering up and attacking. The court eventually rejected all of Lenovos argument, confirming that the right to reimbursment for pre-installed software is due. Further, an additional 20k EUR in damages were awarded to Bonissi.

In a historic judgment in Italy, in a case initiated by FSFE supporter Luca Bonissi, Lenovo was ordered to pay 20,000 euros in damages for abusive behaviour in denying to refund the price of a pre-installed Windows licence. In a motivating gesture for the Free Software cause, Luca donated 15,000 euros to the FSFE.

[...] It should go without saying that everyone should be able to freely choose the operating system to run on their personal computers. Free Software is about granting the liberty for people to freely run software they desire and, consequently, decline the software not respecting their freedom. But Microsoft and the vast majority of hardware manufacturers dishonour this principle by dictating which operating system their customers must use, forcing them to run Windows even when they simply do not want to.

See also the FSFE Windows Refund Guide and the Racketware Guide about how to avoid the Windows Tax.

Previously:
(2014) Windows Tax now Illegal in Italy

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @10:51PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 02 2021, @10:51PM (#1119091)

    The difference is that MS Windows license has always included the provision for a refund from hardware manufacturer if you disagree with the terms of the license. The problem is that nearly no manufacturers/retailers have ever honored this provision, and if they have, it has not been consistent.

    I've attempted to get the refund on every laptop purchase I've made since 1993, and have been told to, "go pound sand" every time. I once tried to re-sell the license on ebay, but the listing was taken down.

    I love that the EU isn't completely controlled by rich parasites in the interest of rich parasites/corporations like North America is.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 03 2021, @02:10PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 03 2021, @02:10PM (#1119415)

    "I love that the EU isn't completely controlled by rich parasites"

    More like beholden to different masters. And only sometimes so.