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Legal Information About Our Products
keys.express and keys.discount are online platforms for product keys. The product keys available in our shops for Windows and other software are inexpensive, secure, legal and come with an activation guarantee.
Below you will find the most important legal information about our products.
Unused and Non-Activated Product Keys
We offer exclusively unused and non-activated product keys. The keys have never been redeemed for activation and are fully available to the purchaser for the first-time activation of the respective product. A key that has already been redeemed could no longer be used for a new activation and is therefore not offered by us.
Trading in these product keys is permissible in the European Union and in Switzerland under current case law, provided that the necessary conditions are met. These conditions are as follows:
- The software must originally have been placed on the market with the consent of the rightholder within the territory of the EU, another contracting state of the EEA, or Switzerland by way of sale.
- The license for the software must have been granted in return for the payment of a fee intended to enable the rightholder to obtain remuneration corresponding to the economic value of the copy of the software.
- The rightholder must have granted the first acquirer the right to use the software permanently (for an unlimited period).
- Any improvements and updates that the subsequently downloaded computer program has compared to the originally downloaded one must be covered by a maintenance agreement concluded between the rightholder and the first acquirer.
- The original licensee must have made their own copies unusable.
This trade is legally permissible because the underlying license was already placed on the market with the consent of the rightholder within the EU/EEA or Switzerland in return for appropriate remuneration. As a result, the so-called principle of exhaustion has taken effect, which permits the resale of individual product keys — in particular those originating from volume license agreements. Microsoft or the respective software provider has already received appropriate remuneration for this.
keys.express and keys.discount ensure that the aforementioned conditions are met and that the lawful use of the software is guaranteed. The requirements arising from European legislation are also observed in Switzerland.
Important note: The acquisition of a product key through the transmission of a combination of numbers and letters in digital form does not, in itself, constitute a license for the lawful use of the program. The license only arises from the respective installation and the associated acceptance of the manufacturer's terms of use.
Further information can be found here:
Overview of the Most Important Legal Information
- We offer unused, non-activated product keys for the activation of the respective computer programs. The key alone is not yet a license.
- The license only arises from the respective installation and the resulting acceptance of the terms of use. These terms of use govern the right to use the software between you and the respective manufacturer.
- The principle of exhaustion has, as a rule, taken effect — i.e. the license is "used up" — as soon as it was lawfully placed on the market for the first time. The products concerned are software placed on the market for unlimited-time use in the form of an activatable product key with the option to download the program. Microsoft or the respective software provider has received appropriate remuneration for this.
- You gain access to particularly attractively priced product keys from volume license agreements, which are to be treated legally in the same way as parts of volume licenses upon first acquisition.
- The software itself is always the same original software that is also obtained through official download channels or manufacturer sources. You are therefore not paying for a different or inferior version, but for a valid activation key or a corresponding license.
- All brand names and brand logos are registered trademarks, whose use here serves solely for product description — the ownership rights lie with the respective trademark holder.
Purchasing Guide
