UFC-Que Choisir vs Steam: the 2019 victory... and its downfall

Update (2026). This article originally celebrated UFC-Que Choisir's 2019 victory as if it were settled. That is no longer the case: it was overturned on appeal (2022), then rejected by the Cour de cassation on 23 October 2024, ending the French litigation without closing the European debate. We are setting out the full story here, because getting the outcome of this fight wrong means getting our actual rights wrong today.

2019: the landmark ruling

In 2015, the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir sued Valve, the publisher of the Steam platform, arguing that the clause prohibiting the resale of games bought in dematerialised form was unfair. On 17 December 2019, the Paris Tribunal de grande instance ruled in its favour: players should be able to resell their digital games, exactly like a physical disc. The court relied on the European rule of exhaustion of rights and found several clauses of the Valve contract unlawful (notably the retention of funds in the "Steam Wallet").

At the time, the decision was hailed as a turning point: it hinted at a genuine second-hand market for dematerialised games.

2022-2024: the backlash

Valve appealed. On 21 October 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal overturned the ruling. Its reasoning: a video game is not merely a piece of software, but a "complex work" (graphics, music, storyline) protected by copyright. The exhaustion-of-rights rule, recognised for downloaded software by the Court of Justice of the EU (UsedSoft judgment, 2012), does not apply in the same way to protected works (see the Tom Kabinet judgment on e-books, 2019). The resale of dematerialised games is therefore ruled out.

UFC-Que Choisir appealed to the Cour de cassation. On 23 October 2024, the Cour de cassation dismissed the appeal (unpublished judgment, no. 23-13.738): the 2019 victory is overturned. In France, you cannot resell your dematerialised Steam games, but the question remains open at the European level. Under French law as it stands, you cannot resell your dematerialised Steam games.

Why it matters

This saga reveals a contradiction at the heart of our rights: a game on disc can be resold, lent, bequeathed; the same game as a download cannot. The difference does not stem from wear and tear on the item, but from a legal construction. The fight is therefore not lost: it shifts from the judicial arena (where current law sides with the platforms) to the legislative arena, that is, changing European law to create a right to resell digital goods.

For the full legal analysis and the available remedies, read our dossier on the resale of dematerialised games in France.

Sources: UFC-Que Choisir (2019) · Paris Court of Appeal, 21 Oct. 2022 · Cour de cassation, 23 Oct. 2024.

Official references

• Paris Tribunal de grande instance, 17 December 2019
• Paris Court of Appeal, 21 October 2022
• Cour de cassation, 1st civil chamber, 23 October 2024, no. 23-13.738 (unpublished, Légifrance)