Used Software Can Be Sold, Says EU Court of Justice

Sique writes "An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his 'used' licenses allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet. The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a license is exhausted on its first sale. This was decided [Tuesday] (PDF) by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a case of Used Soft GmbH v. Oracle International Corp.."

Comments

Re:So what about the stores?

[imagined.by]

In Europe, or at least in Germany, this never was really the case. Simple reason: You can only read the license agreement AFTER you open the box, which makes everything in the EULA null and void. Common sense if you ask me.

Re:Well of Course

[angel'o'sphere]

You missunderstand what the court here "recognizes". As most EU court articels posted on /. are missleading anyway.
A software copy can and always could eb resold. However: the law was ambigous regarding software that was bought via a download. So Oracle claimed that software that was bought and downlaoded from their website would not be allowed to be resold.
The EU court clarified: it does not matter whether the software was bought on CD/DVD or via the internet.
Hence: no surprising ruling, as the basic matter is defined by law anyway.