UsedSoft and Oracle in the European CourtIn a case that has implications for anyone selling software or content for download in the European Union, the European Court has ruled that a customer can
UsedSoft and Oracle in the European Court
In a case that has implications for anyone selling software or content for download in the European Union, the European Court has ruled that a customer can lawfully assign a software licence, regardless of whether the licence is stated to be non-transferable.
The court ruled that where a copyright owner makes a copy of software available to a customer, whether on a physical medium or via download, the right of ownership in that copy is transferred, and the copyright owner cannot oppose further transfer of that copy, so long as the transferor renders its own copy unusable.
This is likely to be most relevant to producers of off-the-shelf software, as there is less less practical scope for reselling bespoke or heavily configured applications.
I suspect that this ruling will push many copyright owners even faster towards a service-based model, whether SaaS or content streaming, to allow monetisation of each unique user.
A more detailed examination of the case is available at http://www.ffw.com/publications/all/alerts/eu-court-allows-resale.aspx.
In a case that has implications for anyone selling software or content for download in the European Union, the European Court has ruled that a customer can lawfully assign a software licence, regardless of whether the licence is stated to be non-transferable.
The court ruled that where a copyright owner makes a copy of software available to a customer, whether on a physical medium or via download, the right of ownership in that copy is transferred, and the copyright owner cannot oppose further transfer of that copy, so long as the transferor renders its own copy unusable.
This is likely to be most relevant to producers of off-the-shelf software, as there is less less practical scope for reselling bespoke or heavily configured applications.
I suspect that this ruling will push many copyright owners even faster towards a service-based model, whether SaaS or content streaming, to allow monetisation of each unique user.
A more detailed examination of the case is available at http://www.ffw.com/publications/all/alerts/eu-court-allows-resale.aspx.