UsedSoft

Key takeaways

Can you resell software you bought as a download? According to the Court of Justice, yes. When a publisher supplies a copy online with a licence of unlimited duration, in return for payment, it is in fact a sale. Its right to control the distribution of that copy is exhausted, and the buyer may resell it, provided they make their own copy unusable.

For many, the door to a digital second-hand market had just opened, video games included. It has since closed: in the Valve case of 2024, the French Court of Cassation held that a video game is not mere software and therefore falls outside this solution.

The solution rests on several conditions. The licence must be granted for an unlimited period, in return for a price corresponding to the economic value of the copy. The first acquirer must make their own copy unusable at the time of resale. And a block of licences cannot be split in order to resell only part of it. The second acquirer then becomes a “lawful acquirer”, including for updates.

The Court later set a limit in Ranks (2016): a backup copy cannot be resold in place of the original. For video games, the solution no longer applies since Valve, but it remains an argument in the debate on digital ownership and the Stop Killing Games initiative.