An English Court of Appeal has decided that purchased software delivered through an online portal does not constitute a sale of goods.
The Civil Division of the Court of Appeal in England has drawn a distinction between software delivered through a physical disc and software that is downloaded through an online portal. In Computer Associates UK Limited v. The Software Incubator Limited, [2018] EWCA Civ. 518, the Court of Appeal presided over by Lady Justice Gloster held that software delivered by physical discs constitute a “Sale of Goods” for the purposes of the Commercial Agent (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 but that purchased software delivered through an online portal does not constitute a “Sale of Goods”.