What impact does the decision in UsedSoft have on
online distribution of content? Does it mean that resales
of downloaded content are legitimate and do not infringe
the copyright owner’s rights because his exclusive right
to distribute has been exhausted on the first download
of that copy? The copyright work in UsedSoft was
software and the CJEU determined that the Software
Directive was the only applicable EU law. But the court
several times seemed to think it was a matter of policy
that exhaustion of the rightholder’s distribution right by
first sale must apply equally to intangible as well as
tangible copies as from an economic point of view they
thought there was no difference.