consumer-protection european-union
EU consumer protection and failed update
<p>EU consumers have laws that protect them when they buy products of unsatisfactory quality. Roughly speaking the seller is responsible for some time if a fault was present in a product when it was purchased. (Insufficient build quality is a fault that was present when the product was purchased, even if the fault becomes visible only a year later when the product stops working). </p>

<p>There has been news today that some expensive TVs were damaged by a software update. That's not a fault that was present when the TV was purchased. Are the seller and/or manufacturer responsible in that situation? Would they be responsible if such an update breaks a product that was beyond reasonable warranty period, but happened to be still working fine? </p>

<p>The TV's warranty is irrelevant. The relevant warranty is the one that comes with the software. One of the things that is warranted is that the goods or services must be "fit for purpose" - software that breaks the hardware it's installed on is, Prima facile, not "fit for purpose" and the supplier of the software is liable for the damage.</p>
