A few months ago, the Oracle company sued a German merchant who resold Oracle licensed software to all interested parties. Oracle argued that this is illegal, against the provisions of the software purchase terms, and they should receive part of the amount requested by the reseller. After a controversial process, it seems that the final decision came from the European Court of Justice, which claims that any person who bought a software product or a product with a permanent license, can resell that product without any restrictions and without giving the developer company any remuneration.
The first sale in the EU of a copy of a computer program by the copyright holder or with his consent exhausts the right of distribution of that copy in the EU. A rightholder who has marketed a copy in the territory of a Member State of the EU thus loses the right to rely on his monopoly of exploitation in order to oppose the resale of that copy... The principle of exhaustion of the distribution right applies not only where the copyright holder markets copies of his software on a material medium (CD-ROM or DVD) but also where he distributes them by means of downloads from his website.
Practically regardless of whether we purchase software from a company's website or from its store, we have the right to resell it without any restrictions, but only if this software is purchased with a permanent license. The rights offered to buyers could limit companies' rights to restrict users' access to various services, but could force some to make that content available to everyone who bought it. This is where Apple's App Store and the applications withdrawn from it, even though they were purchased by users, come into discussion.
The Court observes in particular that limiting the application of the principle of the exhaustion of the distribution right solely to copies of computer programs that are sold on a material medium would allow the copyright holder to control the resale of copies downloaded from the internet and to demand further remuneration on the occasion of each new sale, even though the first sale of the copy had already enabled the rightholder to obtain appropriate remuneration. Such a restriction of the resale of copies of computer programs downloaded from the internet would go beyond what is necessary to safeguard the specific subject-matter of the intellectual property concerned.
Not infrequently, Apple has withdrawn digital content from its store, users not re-downloading it even though it was paid for. Apple could be forced to give up these practices and give users the opportunity to download applications again even if they have been withdrawn from the App Store. The decision of the Court of Justice is new, it applies immediately and will have important effects in the future. You have more details in this document.
