Another ruling confirms that resale is legal if the first purchaser was granted the right to use the software copy for an unlimited period. The resale of licenses for software downloaded from the Internet is legal if the right to distribute the copy has been exhausted (exhaustion of the right to distribute a copy means that after the first lawful sale of the software by the copyright holder, the holder loses control over the further distribution of that specific copy). The new purchaser can download a copy of the software from the author’s website, even if they did not receive a physical medium.

The German Federal Court of Justice ruled that the CJEU’s decision also applies to volume licensing agreements and their division. In its ruling, the German Federal Court of Justice dismissed Adobe’s appeal in its entirety. As a result, software licenses from volume agreements can be sold individually. Acquiring individual pre-owned licenses from volume agreements is legally compliant.

The Public Procurement Chamber in Münster ruled that excluding pre-owned software from tenders violates the principles of competitiveness and equal treatment of bidders. The justification stated that pre-owned licenses are not licenses different from the original but are indistinguishable from a new version.

According to the ruling of the Hamburg Regional Court, it is not mandatory to disclose the chain of rights. This decision overturns the claim that disclosing the chain of rights, meaning the previous owners of the license, is necessary for the legal trade of pre-owned software. The ruling confirms that pre-owned software can be used without concerns and without the need for additional documentation. This means that as a buyer of secondary market software, you do not need to collect any documentation about the chain of rights, simplifying the entire process and eliminating unnecessary formalities while ensuring full legality of the transaction.