--- title: Microsoft pursues Supreme Court appeal in £270 million... description: Microsoft is seeking UK Supreme Court permission to appeal the ValueLicensing ruling, having already lost at both the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-pursues-supreme-court-appeal-in-270-million-software-resale-case-tbhzbkdou twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Microsoft pursues Supreme Court appeal in £270 million software resale case | daily.dev og:description: Microsoft is seeking UK Supreme Court permission to appeal the ValueLicensing ruling, having already lost at both the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-pursues-supreme-court-appeal-in-270-million-software-resale-case-tbhzbkdou og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/tBHzBKDou.png og:image:alt: Microsoft pursues Supreme Court appeal in £270 million software resale case og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Microsoft pursues Supreme Court appeal in £270 million software resale case **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Microsoft is seeking UK Supreme Court permission to appeal the ValueLicensing ruling, having already lost at both the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. ValueLicensing sued Microsoft for £270 million in 2021, alleging the company used contractual clauses to block businesses from reselling surplus perpetual software licences and push them toward Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Both courts ruled that resale and subdivision of Microsoft licences does not infringe copyright. A related class action could expose Microsoft to a multibillion-pound liability. If the Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal or rules against Microsoft, it would establish a precedent allowing UK and potentially European businesses to freely resell unused Microsoft licences. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Is it legal to resell surplus Microsoft Office perpetual software licences? Yes, according to two UK court rulings. The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled in 2025 that reselling and subdividing Microsoft licences does not infringe copyright, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision on July 7. Microsoft is now seeking permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court, with a partial stay granted July 21 while that request is pending. _Following how licensing disputes like this resolve helps IT teams plan procurement on daily.dev._ ### What is the ValueLicensing lawsuit against Microsoft about? ValueLicensing sued Microsoft for £270 million in 2021, alleging Microsoft inserted contractual clauses pushing customers toward Microsoft 365 subscriptions and blocked resale of surplus perpetual on-premise licences. Microsoft argued reselling its software was illegal under copyright law, but both the Competition Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal rejected that argument, finding no copyright infringement in resale or subdivision of licences. _Enterprise teams weighing subscription versus perpetual licensing can track this dispute on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Microsoft seeks Supreme Court lifeline in pre-owned license battle](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-seeks-supreme-court-lifeline-in-pre-owned-license-battle-swf8wul85) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Court tosses Microsoft's appeal in pre-owned software licenses spat](https://daily.dev/posts/court-tosses-microsoft-s-appeal-in-pre-owned-software-licenses-spat-lercdfr4s) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [UK tribunal says reselling Microsoft licenses is A-OK](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-tribunal-says-reselling-microsoft-licenses-is-a-ok-o3gu0oe2u) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Microsoft pivots to copyright claim in ValueLicensing case](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-pivots-to-copyright-claim-in-valuelicensing-case-kbeqg4koe) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Microsoft to face questions over From SA program](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-to-face-questions-over-from-sa-program-nakngyvec) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#microsoft](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft), [#licensing](https://daily.dev/tags/licensing) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-pursues-supreme-court-appeal-in-270-million-software-resale-case-tbhzbkdou) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Microsoft pursues Supreme Court appeal in £270 million software resale case","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-pursues-supreme-court-appeal-in-270-million-software-resale-case-tbhzbkdou","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-pursues-supreme-court-appeal-in-270-million-software-resale-case-tbhzbkdou"},"datePublished":"2026-07-27T16:58:55.790Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:15:51.305Z","description":"Microsoft is seeking UK Supreme Court permission to appeal the ValueLicensing ruling, having already lost at both the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f70287219d85473d6494531408fa4ee3?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f70287219d85473d6494531408fa4ee3?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-pursues-supreme-court-appeal-in-270-million-software-resale-case-tbhzbkdou","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"microsoft,licensing","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Microsoft pursues Supreme Court appeal in £270 million software resale case"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-pursues-supreme-court-appeal-in-270-million-software-resale-case-tbhzbkdou#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Is it legal to resell surplus Microsoft Office perpetual software licences?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, according to two UK court rulings. The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled in 2025 that reselling and subdividing Microsoft licences does not infringe copyright, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision on July 7. Microsoft is now seeking permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court, with a partial stay granted July 21 while that request is pending. Following how licensing disputes like this resolve helps IT teams plan procurement on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the ValueLicensing lawsuit against Microsoft about?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"ValueLicensing sued Microsoft for £270 million in 2021, alleging Microsoft inserted contractual clauses pushing customers toward Microsoft 365 subscriptions and blocked resale of surplus perpetual on-premise licences. Microsoft argued reselling its software was illegal under copyright law, but both the Competition Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal rejected that argument, finding no copyright infringement in resale or subdivision of licences. Enterprise teams weighing subscription versus perpetual licensing can track this dispute on daily.dev."}}]} ```