UsedSoft

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UsedSoft
legal form Joint-stock company)
founding 2003
Seat Zug , Switzerland
management Peter Schneider
Branch E-commerce
Website usedsoft.com

usedSoft is a used software trading company based in Zug (Switzerland) that established the B2B market for used computer programs.

Business model

usedSoft buys and sells standard computer programs that were previously used by other users. Since software does not wear out in contrast to other products, the quality is the same as that of new goods. The licenses are offered on the used market around 30 percent below the original price.

At the same time, usedSoft buys up software that has already been used. This enables companies to convert software that they no longer need (due to system changes, job cuts, etc.) into cash.

usedSoft is exclusively active in the B2B business and mainly deals with all common computer programs of the Microsoft and Corel brands.

Customers include large companies , medium- sized companies and authorities , including s.Oliver , Segafredo , Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin, Munich Airport , a leading club in the Bundesliga and the Federal Social Court .

history

usedSoft was founded in 2003 by Peter Schneider and two partners who later left. Business operations began in 2004. HHS usedSoft GmbH was then based in Munich. After initial skepticism - contrary to the actual legal situation, the market held for a long time the belief that software should not be traded second-hand - the company repeatedly achieved double-digit growth rates.

However, this led to growing and considerable resistance from US software manufacturers. Microsoft even filed a criminal complaint in 2006, which was discontinued by the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office because of proven innocence. Oracle tried in 2005 to stop the used trade with a civil suit. But this attempt also failed and ultimately even resulted in the EU-wide liberalization of the used software trade (see below section "ECJ judgment").

Legal bases

The legal basis of the used software trade is the “principle of exhaustion ” in copyright law. This states that a manufacturer's right to distribute his product is "exhausted" when he has placed it on the market for the first time. The buyer can therefore resell it used. The fact that the exhaustion principle also applies to computer programs is laid down in Section 69c No. 3 sentence 2 of the German and Section 12, Paragraph 2 of the Swiss Copyright Act. The EU Directive 2009/24 / EC also expressly allows the trade in used computer programs.

The question of whether computer programs that were brought onto the market in bundles (so-called “volume licenses”) could be resold individually was a matter of dispute until the very end. After the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had declared the used software trade to be lawful in 2012, the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt / M decided. in December 2012 on this basis that the splitting of volume licenses is also lawful (AZ 11 U 68/11, paragraph 77 ff.). The Federal Court of Justice also shared the view of the ECJ in its judgment of July 17, 2013 (I ZR 129/08). The regional courts of Hamburg (AZ 315 O 343/06) and Munich (AZ 30 O 8684/07) had already ruled in the same way in 2006 and 2008. A large part of jurisprudence had always held this view.

ECJ ruling

Oracle and usedSoft have been fighting since 2005 about the question of whether usedSoft may trade in used Oracle licenses. The dispute led to the Federal Court of Justice, which finally referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a decision in February 2011.

The judgment of the ECJ was announced on July 3, 2012 (AZ C-128/11). The ECJ ruled in the last instance that the exhaustion principle applies to every first sale of software. The trade in used computer programs was declared lawful in principle. According to the court, this also applies if the software is transmitted online. The ECJ even ruled that the second buyer of computer programs transmitted online may download the software again from the manufacturer.

On July 17, 2013, the Federal Court of Justice fully endorsed the opinion of the ECJ with its judgment (I ZR 129/08). In detail, the BGH decided, analogous to the ECJ ruling, that the exhaustion principle applies to every initial sale of software. In the case of licenses transferred online, the second purchaser can download the software again from the manufacturer and is just as entitled to free updates as the first purchaser. According to the Federal Court of Justice, only two conditions must essentially be guaranteed for resale: The software must have been sold when it is placed on the market, i.e. it must not have been leased or rented. And it must be ensured that the previous owner of the software deleted it before it was sold.

Building on this, the BGH decided at the end of 2014 in proceedings between Adobe and usedSoft that licenses acquired through volume contracts may also be resold individually (Az. I ZR 8/13). The first civil senate of the BGH, which is responsible for competition law, stated in the following statement: “If the first purchaser (...) has acquired a license that allows the use of several independent copies of the computer program (so-called volume license), he is entitled to the right to resell the program in question to a number of users determined by the user and continue to use it for the remaining number of users. The individual licenses are independent usage rights that can be transferred independently. ”As a result, Adobe was sentenced in 2016 to pay usedSoft to pay more than 120,000 euros plus interest in damages.

Corporate structure

UsedSoft International AG is based in Zug (Switzerland). The company's founder, Peter Schneider, is the managing director. In addition to Peter Schneider, the company's board members include the former head of IBM Europe, former BDI president and former EU parliamentarian Hans-Olaf Henkel, the former chairman of the board and supervisory board of BAYER AG, Manfred Schneider, and Baden- Württemberg Minister of Finance a. D. Gerhard Stratthaus.

UsedSoft International AG owns usedSoft Deutschland GmbH (Dortmund) and usedSoft Europe BV (Amsterdam) as 100 percent subsidiaries and sales companies.

usedSoft sells used software throughout the EU and in Switzerland. The focus is on the DACH region, France, Italy and the Benelux countries.

Sales are carried out by an international sales organization. There is also an online sales channel with the usedSoft online shop.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Homepage usedSoft . Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  2. ↑ https://www.channelpartner.de/a/usedsoft-bietet-nun-auch- licenseen-von-coreldraw-an, 3336829
  3. ↑ Homepage usedSoft - References . Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  4. ↑ Copyright Act - § 69c German and European laws. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  5. ↑ Swiss Copyright Act The Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  6. ↑ Directive 2009/24 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (PDF) Official Journal of the European Union. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  7. ^ Partial judgment of December 18, 2012 Higher Regional Court Frankfurt am Main. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  8. ↑ Directive 2009/24 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (PDF) Official Journal of the European Union. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  9. ^ Judgment of July 17, 2013, file number I ZR 129/08 Federal Court of Justice . Accessed on March 12, 2014.
  10. ^ Judgment of the Federal Court of Justice of December 2014. Retrieved on February 7, 2017.
  11. ↑ Article SZ from August 31, 2016 Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  12. ↑ Sales and employee figures usedSoft moneyhouse. Commercial register and economic information. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  13. ↑ Job for ex-Siemens boss: Pierer wants to help software dealers achieve a breakthrough Spiegel Online from November 23, 2012. Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
  14. ↑ Used standard software as a business model - "manage it" for competition and low prices , issue 1-2-2019
  15. ↑ https://www.usedsoft.com/de/kontakt/
  16. ↑ Online shop usedSoft . Retrieved October 15, 2013.

Web links

Coordinates: 47 ° 10 '20.6 "  N , 8 ° 30' 59.4"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and eighty-one thousand seven hundred thirteen  /  225 165