EU Court of Justice rules selling 'used' licenses for downloaded software is legal

The European Union Court of Justice has upheld the right to sell "used" copies of downloaded software.

Oracle had brought a suit against UsedSoft, which resells old Oracle software licenses, arguing that it was essentially facilitating piracy by helping to transfer a license between users. Unlike physical copies of software or things like CDs, which are easier to argue for as discrete items, a digital download is not a tangible product. Nonetheless, a preliminary ruling found that Oracle's exclusive right to sell even digital software is "exhausted" after the first sale, leaving users free to sell the license to someone else. It also overruled the terms of service many companies use: "even if the license agreement prohibits a further transfer," the court ruled, "the rightsholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy." Patches or other changes that are installed after the original download are also counted as part of the original sale.