Microsoft’s second-hand licensing appeal gets the brush-off

Microsoft has failed to win permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court in the long-running legal spat with ValueLicensing after the Court of Appeal refused its application. The US megacorp was challenging a November 2025 ruling in ValueLicensing's favor that VL may resell pre-owned software licenses. That judgment was unambiguous, but Microsoft told The Register at the time that it would seek permission to appeal. That request was rejected last week in blunt terms. No reasons were given for the refusal, just the words "It is ordered that the application is refused." It isn't quite the end of the road. Microsoft could apply to the Supreme Court itself, but it would need to file within 28 days and show a compelling reason why the Court of Appeal was wrong to refuse its appeal. …