"The hearing resolved the key question of whether Microsoft's Windows and Office fall outside the EU’s copyright exhaustion rules for software, which allow the resale of perpetual software licenses, because of the inclusion of literary and artistic works including fonts and clip art. This decision is a significant statement of the legal foundation for the software resale markets in the UK and across Europe."
3PB’s specialist intellectual property barrister Mark Wilden acted for the successful claimant, JJH Enterprises (trading as ValueLicensing), in a claim before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in a case involving the legality of selling pre-owned Microsoft Office and Windows software. In a judgement handed down yesterday as [2025] CAT 75 the tribunal found for the claimant on all substantive issues.
Read 3PB's new update here.