licensing computer
Resellers of Windows OEM licenses
<p>I've been comparing prices on Windows 11 Pro licenses from third-party OEM license resellers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/windows-11-pro/dg7gmgf0d8h4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Microsoft</a> sells it for $199.99.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.kinguin.net/category/110936/windows-11-professional-oem-key" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kinguin</a> sells it for $32.62 (at the time of posting). I'm just using them as an example. There are other such sites.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/get-windows-10-free-or-cheap,5717.html#:%7E:text=Now%2C%20let%27s%20address,just%20another%20marketplace.%22:%7E:text=Now%2C%20let%27s%20address,just%20another%20marketplace.%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tom’s Hardware</a> seems to be comfortable with Kinguin:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Now, let's address the elephant in the room. While we can't vouch for
all of them, websites selling cheap Windows 10 or 11 keys are likely
offering legitimate codes. Kinguin has more than three dozen merchants
worldwide selling Windows keys. Mark Jordan, Kinguin’s VP of
communications, told Tom's Hardware in 2019 that Kinguin's merchants
acquire the codes from wholesalers who have surplus copies of Windows
they don't need.</p>
<p>&quot;It's not a gray market. It would be like buying Adidas or Puma or
Nike from a discounter, from TJ Maxx,&quot; Jordan said. &quot;There are no
legal issues with buying it from us. It's just another marketplace.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I asked an IT consultant who I'd describe as &quot;scrupulously honest&quot; about the legitimacy of such resellers. He wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yes, the source is completely on the up and up to the best of my
ability to discern. I have no desire to be sued or jailed for software
piracy. I was referred to this particular source by another IT
consultant who has no desire to jeopardize his business by dealing
with shady sources.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is purchasing from such resellers legitimate? How about for business use?</p>

<p>In a <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/50462/is-resale-of-windows-10-keys-legal">related post</a>, <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/a/50474/48764">there was an answer that referenced</a> a 2018 Geekwire article <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2018/microsoft-sues-prolific-distributor-pirated-office-windows-software/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Microsoft sues 'prolific distributor' of pirated Office and Windows software</a>. Therein, Geekwire shared the civil case of Microsoft v. Gamble. Although I am not yet a lawyer, I found these two excerpts from Microsoft's complaint pertinent:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="20">
<li><p>Product activation keys are not a software license, nor do they constitute authorization from Microsoft to access or use software
without the appropriate license. Product activation is merely
technology used by Microsoft to protect its intellectual property from
unauthorized use, counterfeiting, and other forms of abuse. Microsoft
does not sell or otherwise provide product activation keys separately
from licensed software, nor does it authorize others to do so.</p>
</li>
<li><p>One prevalent facilitator of unauthorized software use is the unlawful distribution of Microsoft product activation keys that have
been decoupled from the software they were authorized to activate.
Distributors of these keys commonly instruct their customers, as in
this case, to download the software from Microsoft and then use the
decoupled keys to activate the software. In these instances, the
customers downloading the software from Microsoft do not purchase the
required software license, and Microsoft is not paid for the software
being used. The global black market for decoupled product activation
keys generates millions of dollars of illicit revenues for
distributors.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>I may certainly be jumping, but I think the most logical conclusion would be that is what's going on with these discounted licenses: they're illegally selling <em>&quot;product activation keys that have been decoupled from the software they were authorized to activate&quot;</em>.</p>
<p>Just to confuse matters, however, my &quot;scrupulously honest&quot; IT consultant who I quoted in my original post, just wrote me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>[my source, another IT consultant and MSP]</em> is better connected with vendors than I am. He says he
spoke to a number of contacts at Microsoft, and their consensus was
that if Microsoft's activation server permits the product to activate,
then the software and the product key are legitimate.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It's not possible to determine in a specific case whether a particular vendor is operating legally, but it is in principle possible. <a href="https://devicepartner.microsoft.com/en-US/connect/distributor" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MS itself</a> sort of directs you to possible resellers. The pertinent question is whether the vendor does indeed have permission (arising from a contract with MS) to sell some form of license, however, pursuant to <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/deployment/validate-oem-activation-key" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this description</a> for Windows 10, it might require purchasing a copy then validating the key. An alternative would be to read the contract between the vendor and MS, and hire an attorney to evaluate the legality of what they are offering, but that isn't publicly-available information and it is kind of overkill. Indeed, there may be no contract between the vendor and MS, if the vendor bought up extra copies from someone else (the question does arise whether the license is transferable, which we can't answer without seeing the contract with MS).</p>
