Valve v. UFC-Que Choisir

Key takeaways

The consumer association UFC-Que Choisir wanted players to be able to resell their Steam games just as they resell a boxed game. After winning at first instance in 2019, the association lost on appeal, then before the French Court of Cassation.

The reasoning comes in two steps. A video game is a complex work, not mere software, so the UsedSoft case law, which allows downloaded software to be resold, does not apply. And making it available online is a communication to the public, which is never exhausted, as for e-books in Tom Kabinet. The practical consequence: you do not own your digital games the way you own your boxed ones, and clauses banning account transfers remain valid.

The debate is not entirely closed: UFC-Que Choisir referred the matter to the European Commission in February 2025, and the question could come back with the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act.

The course of the case explains its impact. In 2019, the Paris first-instance court had held Steam's clause prohibiting resale to be unfair, applying exhaustion of rights to downloaded games. The Paris Court of Appeal reversed that judgment in October 2022. The Court of Cassation upheld the reversal and refused to refer a question to the Court of Justice, taking the view that the answer left no reasonable doubt. That refusal has been criticised by some legal scholars.

The ruling does not, however, validate every platform clause. Unfair terms law and the conformity guarantee for digital content continue to apply, for example to the closure of an account or the unilateral modification of the service.