Derby firm suing Microsoft in £270m High Court battle

An East Midlands software reseller is suing Microsoft for £270m in damages after it alleged that the US giant is trying to stifle a multibillion-pound market.

Value Licensing, which is based in Derby, buys up pre-owned licenses for Microsoft products from firms that have upgraded their IT or have gone bust – then sells them on.

Now, according to reports in the Financial Times, Value Licensings’s founder, Jonathan Horley, is suing Microsoft under anti-competition laws.

Horley said: “Microsoft has an incentive to move to its new cloud-based model and remove the old licences from the market so customers have no choice but to move to its subscription model.”

Horley told the FT that Microsoft is “abusing its power” in stopping companies buying cheaper versions of its software and that the resale market is shrinking because of this.

Microsoft said it doesn’t comment on ongoing legal cases.