Legislation
The purchase and use of pre-owned software are legal in the EU based on the European Court of Justice ruling from July 2012 (Case C-128/11-3 July 2012) and the European Software Directive 2009/24/EC.
Article 4(2) of the Directive states: “the first sale in the Community of a copy of a program by the right holder or with his consent shall exhaust the distribution right within the Community of that copy, with the exception of the right to control further rental of the program or a copy thereof”.
In July 2012, the European Court of Justice ruled that this “principle of exhaustion” also applies to intangible/digital software, including software within Volume Licence Agreements sold by vendors such as Microsoft. In short, owners can resell perpetual, fully paid software licences regardless of what states in the original agreements.