Re: [ilugd] ilugd Digest, Vol 62, Issue 25

2008-05-17 Thread Manish
Kamal,

This email was titled differently so missed to see this earlier.

On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 9:21 PM, Kamal Dave wrote:

 Manish/ List
 Under the Consumer protection act, action can be initiated against such 
 bundling

 for the benefit of all,

 [As per section 2 (c) (i)
 complaint means any allegation in writing made by a complain­ant that—
 an unfair trade practice or a restrictive trade practice has been adopted by 
 any trader or service provider;

Complaint to whom: authorities or vendor?  Is email considered in
writing?

 and as per section 2(nnn)Restrictive Trade practice is
 (nnn)restrictive trade practice means a trade practice which tends
 to bring about manipulation of price or conditions of delivery or to affect
 flow of supplies in the market relating to goods or services in such a manner
 as to impose on the consumers unjustified costs or restrictions and shall
 include—
 (a)  delay beyond the
 period agreed to by a trader in supply of such goods or in providing the
 services which has led or is likely to lead to rise in the price;
 (b)  any trade practice which requires a consumer
 to buy, hire or avail of any goods or, as the case may be, services as
 condition precedent to buying, hiring or availing of other goods or services;]

Can I interpret (b) to mean that Lenovo requiring that I purchase a
Windows license as a precedent to buying their laptop as a restrictive
practice?

 Therefore action under consumer protection act be initiated.  No
  lawyer is needed in contesting the case, so you can choose the forum
  where you wish to initiate proceedings.

You mean, I represent myself? :) That will be some experience.  BTW,
generally, how much time does a case take in a consumer court?

I do not think a consumer court would be empowered to rule beyond this
specific case to hit at the root cause and prevent such cases from
happening again.  For example, like my earlier suggestion (in a
separate email) of requiring vendors to publish a refund policy as a
pamphlet and bundle with the machine. I would love to be wrong on
this.

 Civil Courts and as also said by Sudev, you can alternatively go
  before the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Commission with your
  complaint.

Who sends notice to Lenovo and when?  What's the first step?

Thanks for your expert advice.  Appreciate it.

-- Manish

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Re: [ilugd] ilugd Digest, Vol 62, Issue 25

2008-05-14 Thread Kamal Dave

Message: 11
Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 12:20:49 +0530
From: Manish [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [ilugd] M$ Tax Refund Quest
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED],  The Linux-Delhi mailing list
ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org
Message-ID:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
 
On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 7:26 AM, Raj Mathur wrote:
 On Wednesday 14 May 2008, Manish wrote:
   [snip]

  It's not Microsoft who is supposed to refund but the reseller (as I
   understand from the license.)  Besides the license asks to contact
   the manufacturer or installer, if you do not agree to the license,
   to determine their return policy for a refund or credit.  And then
   they tell you that the policy is to not refund.  How contrivedly
   convenient.

  Ah, then you're very much within your rights to get a refund or credit.
  After all, they can't blame you for following the instructions on the
  licence itself!
 
I certainly hope so.
 
  As a multitude of other people on this list have pointed out, the
  consumer courts are probably the best place to take this issue to.
  However, I'd let the vendor know that I was planning to approach the
  consumer court beforehand, to give them a chance to be
  gentlemen/gentlewomen/gentlepersons-of-indeterminate-gender, play nice
  and refund the money before their name gets dragged in the mud.
 
I have just been told not to waste their and my time about pursuing
this further with them since The management have made the decision,
and we are not refunding you for the Operating System. This decision
is final.
 
I have told them that I intend to take this issue to Indian consumer
court and have also requested them to share their Indian
correspondence address so that a legal notice can be served on them.
 
  On a side note, if this becomes common I wonder what changes MS is going
  to make in their licence? :)  Will they remove the ``if you do not
  agree'' section altogether?  Or are they required by law to keep it
  there?
 
None whatsoever.  I suspect the clause exists because of US law and
not because Indian law requires it which is why they sound so
confident about brushing it off.  Hence my repeated suspicion if it is
binding under Indian law.  Guess there's only one way to find out.
 
  IANAL, TINLA.
 
Ack.
 
-- Manish


==
Manish/ List
Under the Consumer protection act, action can be initiated against such bundling

for the benefit of all, 

[As per section 2 (c) (i)
complaint means any allegation in writing made by a complain­ant that— 
an unfair trade practice or a restrictive trade practice has been adopted by 
any trader or service provider;

and as per section 2(nnn)Restrictive Trade practice is
(nnn)“restrictive trade practice” means a trade practice which tends
to bring about manipulation of price or conditions of delivery or to affect
flow of supplies in the market relating to goods or services in such a manner
as to impose on the consumers unjustified costs or restrictions and shall
include—
(a)  delay beyond the
period agreed to by a trader in supply of such goods or in providing the
services which has led or is likely to lead to rise in the price;
(b)  any trade practice which requires a consumer
to buy, hire or avail of any goods or, as the case may be, services as
condition precedent to buying, hiring or availing of other goods or services;]

Therefore action under consumer protection act be initiated.  No lawyer is 
needed in contesting the case, so you can choose the forum where you wish to 
initiate proceedings.
Civil Courts and as also said by Sudev, you can alternatively go before the 
Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Commission with your complaint.


Kamal Dave
Advocate


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