Lenovo has agreed to reimburse a buyer for an unused Windows preinstallation license, but only if the individual would sign a nondisclosure agreement.

Czech open source site AbcLinux.cz has published the story of Kamil Paral, a Lenovo customer who attempted to obtain a reimbursement for the unused Windows Vista Business license on his new laptop.

A clause in the Windows end user license agreement (EULA) says that consumers who do not accept all the terms of the license can return the software for a full refund. When Paral brought this aspect of the license to the attention of Lenovo, the company agreed to pay him roughly $130 for terminating the license.

In order to complete the agreement, however, Lenovo insisted that Paral sign a nondisclosure agreement that would effectively bar him from talking about the deal. Paral refused, then took the story to AbcLinux.cz, which gave him an equivalent amount of money for telling his story to the world.