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I bought a new laptop with Ubuntu preinstalled from Dell Brazil. Dell Brazil is now charging me explicitly on my invoice for Ubuntu, is that legal?

Link contains a copy of my invoice and a copy of official chat with Dell

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  • 2
    I would not think so, but this would be a better question to direct at Canonical, the company which owns Ubuntu. Dec 1, 2015 at 19:29
  • 2
    Maybe they're charging you for the actual install process and not the OS itself (if it was done manually for some reason) Dec 1, 2015 at 19:30
  • Can you please deliver evidence, such as copy of bill or receipt which says that GNU/Linux Ubuntu was billed? (Pls blank out your personal information before submitting the document.)
    – mcantsin
    Dec 1, 2015 at 19:48
  • 1
    I will send an email to dell to explain the charge. Its a small amount of about 4US$ but still it just says Ubuntu 14.04 nothing more about instalation or similar.
    – Laket
    Dec 1, 2015 at 20:26
  • @Laket Yes, please. It doesn't matter if its 4 US$ only, or whatever amount. If the declaration of the charge is related to some sort of license fee, it would be a violation of the GPL. Let me know. Thanks!
    – mcantsin
    Dec 2, 2015 at 1:50

1 Answer 1

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Software that is licensed with GPL, such as "GNU/Linux Ubuntu", is granted the following four freedoms:

  • the freedom to use the software for any purpose,
  • the freedom to change the software to suit your needs,
  • the freedom to share the software with your friends and neighbors, and
  • the freedom to share the changes you make.

Which means Dell cannot charge for a "license fee". What they may is charge you to cover their expenses and "workload" to perform a proper installation, but they would have to inform you about the price before doing so.

Please deliver evidence in written, such as invoice or receipt, to verify if your allegation is compatible to Dells official practice.

Please also double-check the following facts:

  • Does the distribution contain a copy of the License?
  • Does it clearly state which software is covered by the License? Does it say anything misleading, perhaps giving the impression that something is covered by the License when in fact it is not?
  • Is source code included in the distribution?
  • Is a written offer for source code included with a distribution of just binaries?
  • Is the available source code complete, or is it designed for linking in other non-free modules?

After that please answer the following questions on how the license was violated:

  • Is the copyright notice of the copyright holder included?
  • Is the source code completely missing?
  • Is there a written offer for source that's incomplete in some way? This could happen if it provides a contact address or network URL that's somehow incorrect.
  • Is there a copy of the license included in the distribution?
  • Is some of the source available, but not all? If so, what parts are missing?

Then you can address your claim on a license violations of the GPL to GNU.org, the Free Software Foundation or GPL Violations directly, including the answers of the fact-list including the copy of the evidence.

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  • Time to sue Dell for $4! (yeah right)
    – Daniel
    Dec 3, 2015 at 14:05
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    @Daniel for the sake of freedom yes, absolutely!!
    – mcantsin
    Dec 3, 2015 at 16:32

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