Microsoft pursues Supreme Court appeal in £270 million software resale case

This article was published on July 27, 2026 ValueLicensing sued for £270M over claims Microsoft blocked the resale of surplus Office licences. A related class action could cost Microsoft billions. The stay is partial. Microsoft is seeking Supreme Court permission to appeal the ValueLicensing ruling that pre-owned software resale is legal. It lost at the CAT and Court of Appeal. A related class action could reach billions. Microsoft is seeking permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court after losing twice in the ValueLicensing case over whether businesses can legally resell surplus on-premise software licences. The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled in 2025 that resale and subdivision of Microsoft licences did not infringe copyright. Microsoft appealed and lost again on July 7. An extended stay was granted on July 21 while Microsoft pursues what The Register called “one more roll of the dice.” ValueLicensing sued Microsoft for £270 million in 2021, claiming the company inserted contractual clauses to push customers toward Microsoft 365 subscriptions and blocked them from reselling their perpetual licences. Microsoft argued that reselling its software was illegal under copyright law.