Pre-Owned Licenses for Transfer

A reseller plans to broker transfers of pre-owned volume licenses, working around measures that Microsoft has taken to restrict the aftermarket for volume licenses. The transfers do not violate current Microsoft licensing rules and could create a substantial market in pre-owned licenses for companies that want to purchase new licenses, upgrade older licenses, or purchase additional licenses to ensure they are compliant. Microsoft says it will block such transfers in the future, but billions of dollars of software purchased under current and past licensing agreements could theoretically be in play even after Microsoft changes the rules.

Changing the Rules

In 2005, several software resellers developed a market in reselling licenses purchased under Microsoft’s Open License volume licensing program, but in Oct. 2007 Microsoft revised its licensing agreements to prohibit the resale of licenses.

One of those resellers, Discount-Licensing.com, continued to explore other options, however, and it has now developed a process through which it can broker transfers of licenses from one company to another. The process is not proprietary and could be used by other resellers and brokers that see opportunities to facilitate the movement of older or unused licenses to companies that want to use them.