"AFAIK it's still legal to sell OEM disks and genuine COAs bundled together, although Congress banned selling COAs by themselves about a decade ago. Where they come from, I don't know, but it may be from the surplus stock of dealers who subsequently went out of business and subsequently had their inventories liquidated." NOT Dell (or other BRANDED OEM) COA's, which is what we are talking about.  You will never find a Dell COA sold "legitimately" (which was the issue at hand). "No, it's not illegal in every country; for example, Germany allows OEM licenses to be transferred between machines, and the EU Court recently ruled that software licenses can be transferred even if the software vendor's terms forbid it." Ok, but that's not what we're talking about either.  Using a Dell Windows 7 DVD to "upgrade" a system licensed for XP is what we are talking about, which is NOT OK, as far as I know, in ANY country.
I've searched and read lots of information on this site and others and still have an unanswered question: Can I use an OEM Dell reinstallation DVD to upgrade my Dell computer currently running Windows XP Pro to Windows 7? My Vostro meets the hardware requirements to run Windows 7 32 bit and I understand the process for installing Windows 7 Pro (custom install required), but I purchased a Dell branded OEM Windows 7 DVD with COA and product key from an online retailer, and when it arrived it's a "reinstallation DVD". Will this media work?
Upgrading from Windows XP Pro to Windows 7 Pro - Media