"Pre-installing software is not unfair commercial practice"

Sep 8, 2016 07:31 GMT  ·  By

The European Court of Justice has ruled that pre-installing operating systems on PCs that are sold to customers does not represent “unfair commercial practice” if the buyers are informed about the existence of the software.

The ruling is part of a lawsuit started in 2008 in France by Vincent Deroo-Blanquart, a Sony customer who purchased a laptop that came with Windows Vista Home Premium pre-installed.

When opening the laptop for the first time and reading the end-user license agreement, Deroo-Blanquart didn’t agree with the terms and refused to install Windows Vista, so it contacted Sony to get a reimbursement for the costs of the operating system.

Sony, however, refused to do so and offered to return the full price of the laptop, so Deroo-Blanquart decided to file a lawsuit against the company, asking €450 for the operating system pre-installed on the purchased device and €2,500 for the damage he claimed he suffered because of the unfair commercial practices.

National court to resolve the dispute

The EU court, however, has ruled in favor of Sony, explaining that companies can offer pre-install software such as an operating system on the devices they sell as long as customers are informed about it.

“The sale of a computer equipped with pre-installed software does not in itself constitute an unfair commercial practice within the meaning of Directive 2005/29 when such an offer is not contrary to the requirements of professional diligence and does not distort the economic behaviour of consumers,” the court explained.

Furthermore, the court explained that “since the price of each of those items of software therefore does not constitute material information, the failure to indicate the price of each of those items of software does not constitute a misleading commercial practice,” adding that it’s up to the national court to decide the dispute, as its ruling is only supposed to help with the case.

It remains to be seen what the national court’s ruling will be, but EU’s decision certainly makes sense because, otherwise, it could have set a precedent impacting the entire industry. Manufacturers could be forced to offer a version without pre-installed operating systems for each of their models or look for alternatives to make sure they comply with the legislation.