FAQ's

Volume licensing programs are tailored to the size and purchasing preference of your company. These programs include Open, Select and Enterprise. Each provides a more flexible solution compared to Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or Fully Packaged Product (FPP) licensing. The Open licence program is designed for companies that have as few as five desktop PCs. The Select and Enterprise licence programs are designed for corporate, government, and academic organisations that have 250 or more desktop PCs.

Discount-Licensing transfers the ownership of the licences to your company by supplying the relevant licence details contained within the invoice (delivery of product). In accordance with the European Software Directive 2009, it is legal to transfer the ownership as well as the LA/PUR’s from either an insolvent or solvent company to another solvent business as long as the sales transaction adheres to the local governing laws.

In July 2012, a landmark decision was reached by the European Court of Justice in a case involving Oracle. It is important to note that Oracle’s stance on transfers was very prohibitive from the start and in contrast to the transfer provision provided by Microsoft within its LA’s; however the case served to reaffirm the legalities of the secondary software licensing markets, the Exhaustion Principle and the European Software Directive 2009.

No.  The current terms do have added restrictions regarding the transfer of the software licence assets; however, the European Court of Justice ruling of July 2012 prevents the software vendors from controlling subsequent sales / transfers of software licence assets (tangible or intangible) – restrictive or prohibitive transfer clauses inserted into an LA are not legally enforceable.

Once a suitable licence agreement(s) has been identified and we have received your purchase order, we will then re-confirm the availability of the licences. We will send you the appropriate documentation, which contains the licence agreement details, media and Volume Licence Keys.

You may need more than a reseller’s invoice, purchase certificate or Notary’s attestation, which only shows that a legally empowered witness has certified a previous purchase. Such documents do not prove legal ownership running all the way back to the original customer.  Software Recycling will provide proof of ownership documentation for every transaction, in accordance with the EU Software Directive 2009.

Yes. Companies may legally purchase pre-owned licensing either for new software installations or when a company realises that it is not licence compliant (before or after a Software Asset Management ‘SAM’ audit). A company has the legal right to purchase either ‘pre-owned’ and/or ‘new’ licensing in order to correct its non-licence compliant position ongoing.

Software Recycling sources surplus or disused Microsoft ‘volume’ licence agreements from EU / EEA companies who have either 1) Migrated some workloads to a subscription Cloud service, thereby freeing up on-premise perpetual licences or 2) Restructured their operations by reducing headcount or disposing of business units etc.

Yes. Your business can recycle your licences providing the first country of use for these licences was in EU / EEA.

Yes. As long as Microsoft’s cross-language terms and conditions are adhered to, your business may use the software in its local language. When submitting your enquiry, please confirm the language you require and we will clarify your language rights.

Yes. Licence Agreements (LA) are simply a set of numbers identifying a customer (corporate entity) that contain numerous ‘licences’ (product SKU’s).  In accordance with the ECJ ruling of July 2012, the LA can be split down to ‘licence’ level but no further. The ECJ ruling regarding Oracle refers to a specific Oracle ‘licence’ product SKU that contained 25 CALs. An LA that contains 100 blocks (2500 CALs) can broken down and sold to 100 different customers but you cannot break down the individual licence blocks of 25. Likewise, a Microsoft LA containing 100 x Office 2016 STD licences can be resold as ‘1 x Office 2016 STD’ to 100 different customers; however you cannot break down the single Office licence and resell it to different customers as 1 x Word / 1 x Excel etc.

Yes. You may own an Open, Select and Enterprise licence agreement without affecting your user rights.

Microsoft has extended its support dates for most products. You can view the extended support dates within the following link: Microsoft Product Support Dates.

No. Our focus at the moment is entirely on Microsoft licence recycling.

Yes. Public sector bodies have bought and sold Microsoft licences since 2010.