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ARTICLE · 16 JULY 2012

Usedsoft V Oracle Opens Up Market For Second-Hand Software Licences

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
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De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek

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The Court of Justice of the European Union (the "CJ") handed down a landmark decision on 3 July 2012 in the case of software licence reseller UsedSoft v Oracle.

NetherlandsMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Tobias Jehoram
Tobias Jehoram
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The Court of Justice of the European Union (the "CJ") handed down a landmark decision on 3 July 2012 in the case of software licence reseller UsedSoft v Oracle that opens up the market for second-hand software licences.

Oracle's business model is not to "sell" software but to provide an intangible copy of its software, which can be downloaded from its website, and to grant a perpetual licence for this intangible copy. The licence terms prohibit the customer from transferring the licence to third parties. This system prevents a market for second-hand software licences. Based on this licensing model, Oracle opposed the resale of "used" Oracle licences by UsedSoft, a reseller of second-hand software. UsedSoft argued that under EU copyright law a software supplier who sells a copy of a software program cannot oppose the further sale of such copy based on his copyright (the "exhaustion doctrine"). Oracle argued that the exhaustion doctrine does not apply to intangible

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