General Gaming Article

PC Vendors Can’t Force Italians to Pay ‘Microsoft Tax’ on New PCs

Posted: 26 Oct 2014 07:05 PM PDT

Landmark verdict by Italian Supreme Court concludes 9-year-old case

In late 2005, an Italian citizen named Marco Pieraccioli, who had just bought a Windows laptop from Hewlett-Packard, took the then world's leading PC vendor to court after the latter refused to issue a refund for the accompanying Windows XP Home Edition license that he had no need of. Almost nine years later, Pieraccioli has finally secured the €140.00 refund (plus interest and costs) that he was after.

In its judgement, hailed as "a victory for free software over the 'Microsoft tax'" by Pieraccioli's lawyer, the apex court has lambasted this practice among PC vendors of refusing to refund the price of a pre-installed operating system to those who wish to return such software, saying that it is at odds with "the rules that protect the freedom of choice of the consumer, and the freedom of competition among firms..."

As far as the first freedom adverted to in the above paragraph is concerned, this current ruling, says Marco Ciurcina, a lawyer who helped Pieraccioli with his case, follows the precedent set by French courts, but the bit about this practice violating freedom of competition is "interesting considering that, to date, the antitrust authorities have done little against business practices that 'force' the joint sale of hardware and proprietary software." Perhaps equally interesting is the fact that this judgement isn't restricted to Windows PCs but applies to any computer that ships with a pre-installed OS.

Here's how Ciurcina summed up the rationale behind the ruling in a recent blog post for the Free Software Foundation: "The focus of the Court's reasoning is that the sale of a PC with software preinstalled is not like the sale of a car with its components (the 4 wheels, the engine, etc.) that therefore are sold jointly. Buying a computer with preinstalled software, the user is required to conclude two different contracts: the first, when he buys the computer; the second, when he turns on the computer for the first time and he is required to accept or not the license terms of the preinstalled software. Therefore, if the user does not accept the software license, he has the right to keep the computer and install free software without having to pay the 'Microsoft tax.'"

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