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Charley Connor spoke to Jonathan Horley, the start-up’s founder and managing director, about what drove him to file the claim and how he believes Microsoft has used anticompetitive contractual clauses and discounts to stop its business customers from reselling licences to use its desktop software.

Preowned software license reseller ValueLicensing has secured a primary funder in its ongoing legal battle with Microsoft, it has announced.

ValueLicensing's High Court damages claim against Microsoft Corp, Microsoft Limited and Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited has been backed by litigation funding from a primary funder, after ValueLicensing self-funded the preparation and filing of the Claim earlier this year. Litigation funders finance the costs of the proceedings which in England can run into significant sums, in return for a pre-agreed amount of damages if the Claim is successful.

Jonathan Horley told CRN that these, and other, measures meant the "cupboard was bare" for businesses like ValueLicensing, which sells to both private and public sector organisations, at a time when business should have been booming.

Jon Horley, founder and MD of ValueLicensing, said: "This High Court claim covers the damage to our business through Microsoft's abuse of its dominant market position, effectively destroying the pre-owned software market for desktop products. We are not the only victim to have suffered loss as a result of Microsoft's anticompetitive activity since 2016."