Recently, there has been a lot of debate on Habré about software, its resale and licensing. In order not to be unfounded: here , here and there were several topics, which authors mercilessly zamusnovat.
My professional responsibility is incl. and selling software and, accordingly, advising clients on licensing issues. This is not the first year I have been doing this, regularly pass the required tests of copyright holders (or software manufacturers), and regularly participate in disassemblies against BSA-band attacks. Therefore, I will try to tell in an accessible manner what is happening in the software market and how.
None of the following claims to be legal, commercial, technical or any other accuracy. The whole topic is solely to facilitate understanding of these issues among the habro-public.

moved to Dura Lex at the prompt of Alik_Kirillovich

Let's start from afar - how the laws work.

Laws are similar to classes in OOP, i.e. there is a basic law - the constitution, its heirs are federal laws, the heirs of federal ones are the laws of the subjects of the federation, and moving along this chain we come to EULA. In fact, EULA is a law that governs the relationship between the software manufacturer (hereinafter the copyright holder) and the user of this software itself. Unlike classes in programming, a descendant can contradict the parent, only the sense of this is zero - the rule that is specified in the law of a lower level will act.
For example, the EULA says that you cannot modify code under the threat of execution. If we do not plan to leave the territory of Mother Russia, we boldly spit on this ban, because in the Law of the Russian Federation “On the legal protection of programs for electronic computers and databases” it is said by Russians in white: “A person lawfully owning a copy of a computer program or database is entitled without any additional permission from the copyright holder to carry out any actions related to the functioning of the program for "A computer or database in accordance with its purpose, including recording and storing in computer memory, as well as correcting obvious errors."
In the Russian Federation, there are two laws governing the relationship of the user, copyright holder and all persons involved in the process of transferring a copy of the software and / or rights to use it - this is the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Legal Protection of Programs for Electronic Computers and Databases” and the Law of the Russian Federation “On Copyright and Related Rights.”

Types of licenses.

We will consider the types of licenses on the example of Microsoft, as the copyright holder of the most common commercial software. All others have similar types of licenses, therefore, knowing the Microsoft licensing scheme, it will not be difficult to deal with others. I am very superficially familiar with GPL licenses and other OpenSource licenses, and therefore I will not talk about them, I hope there are people on Habré who can do this.

According to law.

From the point of view of the law, there are three types of software:
• wrapping license;
• right to use;
• media.
Let's start with the simplest, from below.
Media - there is nothing more than a CD or DVD on which the program is recorded. It may not be, the user is free to receive files over the Internet or on punch cards. Can make any number of copies on the media he likes. While all this good lies in boxes, safes, bags and in any other places that your stormy imagination tells you - there is no harm for the copyright holder or for the user. But as soon as any executable file was launched from the media, the user needs a license. Otherwise, if caught - prison тюрь
License - the right to use a copy of the software. This is what allows you to use the software, the rules of use and restrictions imposed by the copyright holder are described in the license agreement.
A wrapping license is a symbiosis of the first two types, presented mainly in the form of so-called “boxed versions”. Those. A distinctive feature is that both the medium and the license are an integral part of each other.

By copyright holder.

From the perspective of the copyright holder, there are six main types of licenses:
• OEM;
• boxed;
• corporate;
• for private use;
• educational and training;
• for government agencies.
I’ll say right away that I’m talking about the most common types of licenses. In nature, mixed types of two or more of these licenses are regularly found.
The most famous OEM license is Original equipment manufacturer. As the name implies, this is a license for hardware manufacturers. Its distinctive feature is that it is an integral part of the hardware on which the software instance is installed. It cannot be delivered without iron (each copyright holder has a list of iron) in the normal case. But, as a rule, there is a clause that the end user can purchase it, but then he assumes all the obligations that the iron manufacturer accepts. Those. If you bought an OEM OEM license for Windows and it didn’t start on your PC, these are only your problems.
A boxed one - both a license and a medium, and usually also documentation, and a card for access to the hotline and something else. It is a product in itself. It can be installed and used on any piece of iron for which it is suitable, provided that it will not be used and will be removed from the device on which it was previously used.
Corporate - a distinctive feature in that they can be used within the same organization and its affiliates in the number of licenses acquired. There are many different licensing schemes, including and rental schemes, leasing, etc.
For private use - the best example is a DVD with a movie from the store, i.e. You can use it as you like and as many times as you like, only not in public places and not for profit.
Training and state licenses are very similar to corporate ones, they often cost dozens of times less, or even free of charge for the respective institutions. Forbidden to use for profit. As a rule, they allow the use of licensed products on the home computers of student employees.

So what can you sell unnecessary from software?

Oddly enough - almost everything.
By sale, we understand its essence, and not a contract of sale, i.e. the fact that part (or the whole amount) invested in the software will return to us.
Licenses for education and government agencies are not resold, for the simple reason that such entities do not conduct commercial activities.
Boxed software - resold without any restrictions, except that it must be removed from the PC on which it was used before.
OEM software is easily resold along with the hardware on which it was installed.
Corporate, if the license allows it (and often it is) and the term of the corporate agreement has not expired, it is resold, but with the involvement of the copyright holder, so that it rewrites the agreement to a new user.
About private use - I will not lie, because there is no interest in this problem, and therefore I do not know.

Now, in short, that's all. Hope it helps someone. Wellcome in komenty, if you get adequate questions I will do another article. For those who like to flood and find fault with the accuracy of the wording - go through the woods - you cannot describe all the subtleties of licensing on two pages (laws take more), and brevity in the end is the sister of talent.

UPD: The reference to the laws is incorrect, the current law “CIVIL CODE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION” (Civil Code of the Russian Federation) Part 4 . Thanks to the boring lawyer getthe