# Microsoft seeks Supreme Court lifeline in pre-owned license battle

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/microsoft-seeks-supreme-court-lifeline-in-pre-owned-license-battle/
- Published: 2026-07-27T11:30:35+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-27T11:48:33+00:00
- Original publisher: The Register
- Original article: https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/07/27/microsoft-seeks-supreme-court-lifeline-in-pre-owned-license-battle/5278823
- Topics: Software

## Key points

- Microsoft seeks Supreme Court appeal after losing licence resale case twice
- £270m ValueLicensing claim partly paused pending appeal decision
- Related class action could bring multibillion-pound damages against Microsoft

## Summary

Microsoft has won an extended stay in its long-running legal battle with ValueLicensing over the resale of second-hand software licences, as it seeks permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The move follows a Court of Appeal defeat on 7 July, which upheld a 2025 ruling by the Competition Appeal Tribunal that reselling and subdividing Microsoft's on-premise licences does not breach the company's copyright, keeping Microsoft on the back foot in a case with potentially huge financial stakes.

ValueLicensing originally sued Microsoft for £270 million in 2021, alleging the firm used contractual clauses to push customers towards Microsoft 365 subscriptions and blocked resale of perpetual licences; Microsoft later argued such resales were unlawful under copyright law, a position tribunals have repeatedly rejected. While most proceedings remain paused pending the Supreme Court decision, ValueLicensing's disclosure and confidentiality applications will still be considered at a Case Management Conference in September. The case is being watched closely as a similar, much larger class action led by Alexander Wolfson could result in a multibillion-pound payout, and ValueLicensing's Jonathan Horley welcomed the tribunal's decision not to grant a full stay.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.