Bare-metal buyers beware: PC makers have no obligation to offer you a machine without an OS, the European Union’s highest court has ruled.

The case dates back to PC prehistory, a time when Vaio was still a Sony brand and Vista was the latest version of Windows.

It all began on Dec. 27, 2008, when Frenchman Vincent Deroo-Blanquart bought a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium and various software applications installed. Deroo-Blanquart refused to accept the Vista end-user license agreement (EULA) when he first turned the PC on, and on Dec. 30, asked Sony to refund the part of the computer’s €549 (then $740) purchase price corresponding to the cost of the software.

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