Blog

"The dispute rumbled back and forth until Microsoft made a surprising pivot. Instead of denying wrongdoing, Microsoft argued that reselling perpetual licenses infringed its copyright. It also claimed that the practice of companies selling only a portion of their licenses was not permitted."

"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."

"Following a trial of preliminary issues at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on 9th & 10th September, Judgment was handed down on 12th November with a unanimous decision in favour of the Claimants, JJH Enterprises Limited (trading as ValueLicensing) against Microsoft."

"A software reseller overcame its first hurdle in itsbid to claim £270 million ($355 million) from Microsoft, with a tribunal rejecting Microsoft's argument'sthat resellers do not have the right to sell on products they have licensed from the tech giant."

"Microsoft has failed to persuade the UK’s specialized competition court that ValueLicensing breached copyright rules through its bulk resale of the tech giant’s software licenses. Four years ago JJH Enterprises, trading as ValueLicensing, filed a lawsuit after it said Microsoft had broken UK and EU competition rules through customer deals that stifled the supply and resale of pre-owned licenses for, primarily, its best-selling Windows operating system and the Office productivity suite."