I recently purchased a sodastream machine, which for those not familiar with it is basically a machine that carbonates water (makes fizzy water). You then mix in various flavours/syrups to make your own fizzy drinks such as cola etc.

It comes with a CO2 cylinder in the box, and I also purchased a spare cylinder..... or so I thought.

Apparently I don't own the cylinder but only hold a license to use it - according to the bit of paper in the box with the cylinder. SodaStream have in fact sued people for reselling the cylinders or refilling them unofficially.

So i'm wondering - how do they enforce this? Surely they'd need to state at time of sale that it's not actually a sale?

Yet they don't:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sodastream-Genes...d_sim_kh_5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sodastream-Spare..._kh_text_z

The only reference to a "license" is when you buy the cylinder on its own, where it states that it includes a license to use it in the sodastream machine - a lot of people have taken this to mean there's some kind of regulation on the use of CO2 cylinders which sodastream take care of for you (there isn't - anyone can use a CO2 cylinder).

So how on earth do they retain ownership?

I'm not familiar with contract law, but was it by any chance shipped from the United States? That kind of thing is disturbingly common over here.

No, within the EU (netherlands specifically) - and i'm pretty sure the basic principles of contract law are the same in the US - i.e you can't be bound to a contract you never saw and the terms can't be changed after a sale without both parties agreeing.

About the only thing I can think of is that if you get the cylinder refilled by them just once, they'd be able to make acceptance of their contract a requirement for getting it refilled.

Realistically i'm not likely to use an "unauthorised refilling station" since it's easy to find cheap CO2, but hard to find cheap CO2 that's also food grade and safe to consume, but it's still annoying that i've been sold something where the seller claims to still own it.

Gareth, you're right. I think English law is applicable, as the item was delivered to England, unless it is stated otherwise on the site where you bough the item. A notice inside the package is way too late, as the sale was made already. General conditions must be notified to you BEFORE the sale is made under every European law. The reason that this rule is the same throughout Europe is that this is EU legislation.

Sounds a bit difficult.
a. the licence: only with licenced cylinders do you use your system appropriately, i.e. when there's an accident, and you have used some other cylinder, it's your own fault.
b. to get that eco-friendly label, they need to get all the cylinders back. So, you buy one; then you exchange it at a re-filling station for a re-filled one, etc. In order to minimize the waste. They cannot take these orders online, obviously, so they place their advert "Sodastream Spare Carbonating Gas Cylinder, 60 L" in order to "hint" to their "‘Gas Exchange’ System".