ValueLicensing case rumbles on as Windows giant appeals against copyright judgment

Microsoft's From Software Assurance (SA) program is the subject of a disclosure application as the long-running spat between Microsoft and ValueLicensing over the resale of software licenses rumbles on.

From SA is a maintenance program for biz customers, purchased with volume licenses. It provides upgrades without extra cost, license mobility, training vouchers, virtualization rights and more.

The scheme was launched in 2014, giving customers a way to shift perpetual licenses with Software Assurance to Microsoft's cloud services. It involved a discount and represented a bridge to the company's Microsoft 365 model.

It also required that the "customer retains the corresponding Qualifying Licenses throughout its From SA license subscription period" (from the company's February 2021 Product Terms [DOCX file]), prohibiting resale of the old perpetual licenses.

It sounds rather familiar when considering the core of the ValueLicensing allegations: that Microsoft deliberately choked off the supply of perpetual ...