I don't see infringement here. That Anonymous Coward said the COA is tied to both the device and the user, but that is not true. It is tied only to the device. If the COA shows that the computer is licensed for, say, Windows 7 home, and it still works, with the original motherboard, but the hard drive has been erased, it is perfectly legal to use some other Windows 7 home OEM install disk to restore the original OEM product. That's what the machine is licensed for and the fact that the bits might have been erased is irrelevant. No new license is required. Until the motherboard dies, that machine is licensed for Windows 7 home. You can replace hard drives, add memory, etc, but only if the MB dies does the license go with it. In this situation, Microsoft has already been paid--by the OEM--for the license and the recycler is simply replacing the bits for which the device is licensed. As long as the installed bits match what's on the COA, we're good.
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No infringement: the computers are still licensed
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