Is there a such thing as a "used" software market?

[Caveman]

User A uses MS Office 2003 and then purchases Office 2007.

User A sells MS Office 2003 and never uses it again.

Is this legal?

I see it like a book. I can buy a book, read it and then sell it... Is software the same way?

 

[Nothinman]

Depends on the licenses, at the very least if the 07 license was an upgrade then User A is required to have a previous version to legally keep using 07. There's also educational licenses, OEM licenses, work licenses, etc that could come into play and need to be investigated individually.

 

[IEC]

NFR licenses come to mind, like academic copies.

 

[Ryland]

I have done exactly that with Office software. I received Office 2007 through MS's "deal" last year and sold off my old copy of Office 2003 because it was no longer installed. Owner has right of first sale on retail copies...

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Does no one frequent used book stores? There's used software all over the place.

 

[QueBert]

this is going to get more and more difficult as it seems a lot of software coming out any more ties into hardware. Who knows what companies will do in cases where people call because they need to reactive software on different hardware (a copy bought used) Technically it should be legal, but getting the company to actually xfer the registration is a totally different story.

I'd love to find a local store that sells used software, not just cos I'm cheap but I would probably find a lot of older stuff I'm after that can't be found easily new anywhere.