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COMMISSION NOTICE – Guidance on the interpretation and application of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market · European Union

The Court has provided further guidance on a specific lock-in scenario. In the Sony case, the Court examined the practice of selling a computer with pre-installed software (including the operating system) (385). The Court stated that the sale of a computer without the option for the consumer to purchase the same model of computer not equipped with pre-installed software does not in itself constitute an unfair commercial practice within the meaning of Article 5(2) UCPD, unless there are additional circumstances at play that make the practice contrary to the requirements of professional diligence and materially distort or is likely to materially distort the economic behaviour of the average consumer with regard to the product. In that regard, the Court has already stated that, particularly if correct information is provided to consumers, a combined offer of different products or services can satisfy the requirements of fairness laid down in Directive 2005/29/EC (386). Moreover, the Court confirmed in Sony that the failure to indicate the price of each of those items of pre-installed software in the computer does not constitute a misleading commercial practice within the meaning of Article 5(4)(a) and Article 7 UCPD (387).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.