Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026

Case law on used software

The European Court of Justice (ECJ), as the highest judicial body of the European Union, has provided final clarity with its ruling and declared the trade in used computer programs to be fundamentally legal.

The ECJ also ruled that the sale of used software is permissible even if the software is transferred online.

On 17 July 2013, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) fully confirmed the ECJ’s fundamental decision with regard to the underlying legal issues.

The ECJ ruling also applies to volume licenses and their splitting. The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main confirmed this in a case between Adobe and usedSoft.

In their reasoning, the 13 judges of the Grand Chamber clearly stated that the exhaustion principle applies to every first sale of software. The ECJ even ruled that the second purchaser of online transferred licenses, the software may be downloaded again from the manufacturer: "Moreover, the exhaustion of the distribution right extends to the copy of the program in the version improved and updated by the copyright holder," the ECJ stated. The Court thus went significantly beyond the Opinion of the ECJ Advocate General of 24 April 2012.

VOLUME LICENSES AND THEIR SPLITTING ARE ALSO LEGAL

In a subsequent ruling by the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main in a case between Adobe and usedSoft, the further consequences of the ECJ ruling were impressively confirmed: The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt ruled that the ECJ ruling also applies to volume licensing agreements and their splitting. The Federal Court of Justice dismissed Adobe's appeal in its entirety on December 11, 2014 (case no. I ZR 8/13). This upheld the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt's ruling in the final instance.

• IT Business: ECJ: Download licenses may be resold
• Financial Times Deutschland: Smart judgment on second-hand software
• Spiegel.de: Used software may be resold
• Bild.de: Used licenses may be resold
• WELT ONLINE: ECJ: Software licenses may be resold
• ComputerBild.de: EU Court: Sale of used software licenses is permitted
• crn.de: Oracle loses dispute over download software
• ChannelBiz: European Court of Justice rules in favor of UsedSoft
• Online PC: usedSoft wins: European Court of Justice gives green light for used software trade
• golem.de: Used software licenses may be resold
• ITReseller.ch: EU declares sale of used software legal
• n-TV.de: Trade in used software - sales are generally permitted

According to Microsoft's licensing terms, the product key is intended for one-time activation. The term of use is unlimited as long as the product is used on the same device. If the computer is reformatted, reinstalled, or any hardware changes are made, there is no guarantee that the key will continue to work on the PC. Furthermore, you are prohibited from activating the key on multiple devices; see Microsoft's Terms of Use.https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/rechtliche-hinweise/nutzungsbedingungen.aspx)

See also Microsoft Privacy Policy
(https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement/).

You can find the license terms for your respective product at https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/useterms There you can select the product for which you are purchasing the product key and view the specific license terms.