ValueLicensing Slaps £270M Lawsuit Against Microsoft For Influencing Second-Hand Software Market: FT

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  • ValueLicensing founder Jonathan Horley has filed a £270 million lawsuit against Microsoft Corp MSFT in the English High Court for allegedly monopolizing the multibillion-dollar market in the second-hand versions of its software by persuading companies to surrender their perpetual licenses, often in exchange for discounts on Microsoft’s cloud-based software like Office 365, the Financial Times reports.
  • ValueLicensing blamed Microsoft for depriving companies of the cheaper IT tools through its monopoly power. The software license owners have noted a market value decline due to the shrinkage in the resale market.
  • ValueLicensing bought pre-owned Microsoft software licenses at a sizable discount from upgrading or insolvent companies and resold them across the U.K. and Europe. Customers could save up to 70% by buying used software as per its website. NHS Trust reportedly saved £1 million by using Microsoft Office 2019.
  • Microsoft made extensive changes to the perpetual versions of Office in February, including reducing product support tenure to five years from the decade of support offered by Office 2016.
  • Microsoft restricted the resale and sharing of Xbox games in 2013 by mandating game installation onto its Xbox One console before play, watermarking each copy to its owner. However, it had to roll back following gamers’ outcry.
  • Price action: MSFT shares traded higher by 0.92% at $252.2 in the premarket session on the last check Thursday.
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Posted In: NewsLegalTechMediaBriefsFinancial Times
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