What is a Licensing Agreement?

The licensing agreement is always included with software. It may be the small print on the flyer in the software package or it could be the text that appears on your monitor when you begin to install a program. Whatever form it is in, it "grants you" certain rights. All licensing agreements allow you to at least "install and use one copy of the software product on a single computer." Most licensing agreements will specifically address your ability to "transfer" your rights under the agreement. The following is an excerpt from a Microsoft licensing agreement:

Software Transfer. You may permanently transfer all of your rights under this agreement, provided you retain no copies, you transfer all of the software product (including all component parts, the media and printed materials, any upgrades, this licensing agreement and, if applicable, the Certificate of Authenticity) and the recipient agrees to the terms of this licensing agreement. If the software product is an upgrade, any transfer must include all prior versions of the software product.

With the above agreement, it is completely legal to sell or buy used Microsoft software provided you follow the stated requirements. This transfer agreement allows the buying and selling of used software and is the norm for most software licensing agreements.

There are some license agreements that totally prevent any transfer of the software.

Software Exchange will abide by all licensing agreements and we ask you to do the same. Only those software titles that allow for their resale (at no additional cost, i.e. transfer fee) will be available from us. Please be sure to check your transfer rights before attempting to sell us any software.