Can software licenses be resold? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:
Can you help me with my software licensing question?

As there are some license that I have finished using (such as Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office, 3D Studio, Autodesk AutoCad). It also includes some server software (Server 2003, User Cal, Endpoint protection server, Endpoint virus definition renew...)

If my company finished using them, can I resell them to get back some money?

They are all legally purchased software.

Thanks and looking forward to the answer, Dan.

Solution 1:

Sadly, I'm sure it depends both on your local laws and the EULA for each individual product.

ArsTechnica has an article up about legal precedent specifically in relation to reselling AutoCAD licenses. In short, the courts have found that it is illegal for them to prevent you from reselling the license. In the US, anyway.

Solution 2:

I added "management" because for us it's partly a management issue.

We don't usually have the time to sell surplus equipment, and we've never taken the time to sell surplus licences. At least with old hardware, it's sitting unused in a corner anyway, it's already been removed from inventory, and we can just post something on Craigslist or sell it internally and it's not a big deal. For software, we keep things in the inventory for a long time, just in case someone needs a specific version or we are able to get a competitive upgrade. So the extra effort of verifying that something old isn't used on a lab machine in the corner and taking it out of the database isn't worth it.

Legally, it would depend on the actual license, but practically, if I did have some surplus s/w (maybe something that was never actually installed), I'd feel quite free to sell it.

For CALs, I wouldn't be surprised if there's something in the EULA that restricts resale.

But again, from a management perspective, it's not worth it for us to spend the time to figure it out. We'd never sell Windows or Office or Acrobat or any other widely-used app or utility, since we use a mix of versions and sometimes have upgrades, and OEM Windows can't be sold w/out the hardware... For lesser-used utilities, by the time our user wouldn't want to use it, the version would probably be too old.

So, ultimately, I'd feel free to do it if the circumstances made sense, but we're never in a situation where it makes sense.

Solution 3:

You really should probably ask your lawyer.

If you asked the software company they will tell you that it is illegal and you only have a license and not ownership of a copy.

There was a recent ruling (2) that would seem to indicate you may be an owner of a copy which would allow you to resell your software. Listen to Episode 32 of TWIL they discuss it.