Mar 16, 2021 07:00:00

How did the user receive damages of 2.6 million yen from Lenovo?

Many PCs currently shipped come with Windows pre-installed, and users of open source operating systems such as Linux will have to pay a license fee for Windows that they do not plan to use. In 1999, users of open source operating systems who were dissatisfied with the situation

campaigned for a refund from Microsoft . Then, in December 2020, an Italian court ordered PC maker Lenovo to pay a license fee and compensation of 20,000 euros (about 2.6 million yen) to users who asked for a refund of the Windows license fee. I'm down.

Refund of pre-installed Windows: Lenovo must pay 20,000 euros in damages --FSFE
https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210302-01.html

Bonissi Luka , a supporter of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) , an organization that works on free software , purchased a Lenovo PC in 2018. Windows was pre-installed on the PC I purchased, but Luka doesn't need Windows, so I contacted Lenovo's support center to refund the Windows license fee. However, the refund request was rejected .

There, Luka filed a lawsuit against Lenovo seeking a refund of the Windows license fee. Luka didn't initially hire a lawyer, but Lenovo has shown a positive attitude towards the trial and will hire a lawyer.

After that, the court granted Mr. Luka the right to receive a refund in June 2019, and paid Lenovo a Windows license fee of 42 euros (about 5500 yen) and legal costs of 130 euros (about 17,000 yen). I ordered.

However, Lenovo is willing to challenge and

dispute the court's decision on 15 items. As a result, Luka was forced to continue to hire a lawyer, spending more than two years and hundreds of euros (tens of thousands of yen) in a trial with Lenovo. Then, in December 2020, the court dismissed all of Lenovo's allegations and told Lenovo that it 'forced users to participate in unnecessary legal proceedings' for 20,000 euros (about 2.6 million yen). I have imposed damages .

FSFE said, 'This decision granting the right to receive a refund for Mr. Luka is a big win for users to establish the right to receive a refund for pre-installed software. But all users are like Mr. Luka. It doesn't cost a lot of money and spends a lot of time on it. PC makers should build a concise refund system, 'he said, asking PC makers to build a pre-installed software license fee refund system. I have.

In addition, Mr. Luka donated 15,000 euros (about 2 million yen) of the damages received to FSFE. The official FSFE Wiki provides multilingual instructions on how to ask your PC manufacturer for a refund of your Windows license fee.