European Union rules in favour of second-hand software sales

In what could only be declared an excellent morning surprise, the European Union's Court of Justice decided in favour of second-hand software license sales - regardless of EULAs - meaning not only PC software distributors but console software distributors. As picked up by Eurogamer, the EU were ruling on a case made by Oracle against UsedSoft, a company which resells used and unwanted Oracle licenses for a reduced price. Naturally Oracle believed they should stop - but the EU saw otherwise, stating:

Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy – tangible or intangible – and at the same time concludes, in return form payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and thus exhausts his exclusive distribution right. Such a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy.

Translated from legalese, that basically means BOOSH!

Naturally, as Australians we are not governed by the European Union, so those rules don't apply to us. Yet. Even if a similar ruling is not set in Australia however, the EU's decision will no doubt have fairly wide ramifications, though probably not for a while. The ruling does not state that digital distribution platforms have to make it possible for customers to resell their items (as Green Man Gaming does with some games) but with a robust community understanding their rights, the odds stack severely in the consumer's favour.

The consequences might not all be favourable for consumers however - it's likely we will have to say goodbye to the ridiculous discounts sometimes offered by digital distributors - or at the very least, some sort of limit to the amount of licenses you can buy. If not, savvy business types will just buy up everything they can when it's at a 75% discount, resell it for a profit and leave the distributor in the wind. The smart money would be on distributors following the Green Man Gaming approach, offering a discount on new sales at the expense of your old ones.

Nevertheless, it's difficult to see this as anything but good news for gamers everywhere - it sometimes feels like every step forward for gaming is a step backwards for gamers. You can read the entire ruling in PDF form on the Court of Justice of the European Union's website if you like. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!