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There has been much change in legal regulations regarding warranties and product liability; The new European product liability law is particularly relevant here. It classifies not only physical goods, but also software as a product: all digital services and devices connected to digital services are now covered under the Product Liability Act.
This has positive consequences for consumers, as the EU regulation extends the burden of proof for software to two years after purchase. Meanwhile, in the event of a complaint, the provider must prove that the defect was caused by the customer. EU law must now be implemented into German law.
Consumer Protection Podcast “Beware, Customer!” In, Ulrike Kuhlmann and Urs Mannesmann from the C’T editorial team explain Attorney Niklas MuhlisWhat obligations does this involve for device manufacturers when providing firmware updates and what rights customers have in the event of an unsuccessful update.
Its basis is the case of Christian S., who cannot access his notebook after a Windows update. Along with the update, the manufacturer introduced a faulty upgrade of the UEFI BIOS, after which the notebook got stuck in a persistent boot loop. The notebook manufacturer’s support confirmed the error, but only offered to replace the mainboard for a fee. As it turns out, besides Christian S., many other notebook owners are affected.
Enforce Product Liability
If, like Christian S., telephone complaints do not lead to a solution, you should definitely switch to written communication, recommends lawyer Muehlis. Consumers have a duty to cooperate if the manufacturer provides instructions to remedy the situation, so they can’t just walk out of the case entirely by saying it’s too complicated for me.
Urs Mannesmann knows that many customers are frustrated by manufacturers’ efforts to protect themselves. They do not know what rights they have and how to enforce them and then ultimately suffer losses. It is not necessary that this happens. Despite this, Ursa recommends that you always install security updates promptly. In the podcast we explain why manufacturers cannot exempt themselves from product liability by placing a notice on the website, who is the correct contact person in the event of damage and when customers are entitled to compensation.
You can read the article on the controversy discussed in the current podcast here:
Christian S case: HP scraps notebook through UEFI update
You can find all episodes of our consumer protection podcast and the cases covered in them at ct.de/Vorsicht-Kunde. We C’T Podcast “Beware, Customer!” Suggestions, praise and criticism are welcome. In the comments. Have you ever had a bad experience on Black Friday?
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