UsedSoft (stylized usedSoft in both English and German) is a Swiss used-software commerce company which instituted a business-to-business (B2B) market for used computer programs. The company is headquartered in Zug,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History and company structure

UsedSoft was founded in 2003 by Peter Schneider. The companies UsedSoft Deutschland GmbH (Dortmund) and UsedSoft Europe (Amsterdam) are wholly owned subsidiaries and distributors of UsedSoft International AG. Sales work is performed by a sales organization consisting of some 40 persons active all over Germany and Europe. UsedSoft also launched an online shop in 2013. When Schneider died in June 2022 after a serious illness, existing executives Johannes Jäger and Michael Aufderheide took over the operation of the company.

Business model

UsedSoft purchases and sells standard computer programs that have already been used by other users. Since it does not suffer from wear and tear, unlike other products, "used" software retains the same quality as a brand new product. Licenses on the used market are available at around 30% below the price of new software. UsedSoft maintains business operations exclusively in Europe. Its customer base includes large companies, SMEs, and public agencies, including Edeka, Woolworth, Harry Broth, s.Oliver, Segafredo, the airports of Munich and

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, law firms, an association in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league, savings and loans banks, as well as the City of Munich, Germany's Federal Social Court in Kassel, and the

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

Police.

Legal foundation

The legal foundation for used software trade rests on the " principle of exhaustion" in

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

law. This principle lays out that a manufacturer's distribution right to a product is "exhausted" the first time it brings the product into circulation. Thus, the buyer can resell the product secondhand. In Europe, EU Directive 2009/24/EC expressly permits trading in used computer programs.

ECJ ruling

From 2005 to 2012, Oracle and UsedSoft GmbH were involved in a legal dispute in Germany on the question of whether UsedSoft is permitted to trade used Oracle software licenses. The dispute was taken all the way to Germany's Federal Court of Justice, the country's highest court, which ultimately passed the case to the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

(ECJ) for adjudication. The ECJ's ruling was announced on 3 July 2012 (case C-128/11). The ECJ ruled, barring further recourse for appeal, that the principle of exhaustion applies to every first-time sale of software. Thus, used software trade has been declared fundamentally legal. According to the Court, this also applies to software that has been transmitted online. The ECJ even laid out that the second acquirer of computer programs that have been transmitted online may download the software from the manufacturer: according to the ECJ. However, the ruling did stated that resellers could not break up a license in order to sell only part of it, for example if they have purchased licenses for more users than they needed and wanted to sell off the surplus: the IT press reported this aspect of the ruling as "a small victory" for software licensors.Baker, J.
EU court rules resale of used software licenses is legal, even online
'' Computerworld'', published on 3 July 2012, accessed on 3 January 2024

References

External links

* {{Official website
Microsoft Volume Licensing

Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center

European Court of Justice Press Release No. 94/12 from 3 July 2012
Companies based in Zug Online retailers of Switzerland