Legality of a License Purchase

[ManhattanPrjct]

This may not be the best question to ask on this forum, but --

Has anybody ever bought one license from somebody who bought a multi-license edition of software (namely Microsoft Office)? I am pretty sure resale of any software is technically not allowed, but I am just curious if there is a standard in the world of second-hand software for something like this.

 

[r.j.s]

You can sell your license to software, that is legal ...

Usually, you cannot sell extra licenses of a multi-license pack, e.g. Office Home and Student comes with three licenses, and a restriction that they must all be used in the same house. Using one and selling the extras is a breach of contract, and possibly piracy.

 

[mkrishnan]

^^ Right. Also the problem you run into here is that while you technically paid someone for a "license," you don't have any sort of proof of that license -- since there's typically only one COA or whatever for the pack anyways, and it presumably stays with the original buyer. So, while at some level, you're trying to be more honest than pirating, you don't really end up with any more legitimate claim than if you had pirated.

Also, at least some of those family pack type of licenses carry some kind of limitation that states that the license is issued to x users, e.g. within a single home, in an immediate family, in a company or institution, etc, etc. So there by being outside of that definition you're also not meeting the terms of the license.

Do people do things like that on the sly? Sure, yeah. But if you buy a license from someone on the internet or another stranger, in that way, do take into account that you're essentially transferring money to them for nothing, since they don't have anything they can really give you anyway.