[OT] Any lawyers on list - or anyone got access to one?

["Paul Gale" <groups2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm looking for a quick bit of advice re the supplier of my bonded
ASDL rou=
ter software.

I originally bought three ADSL PCI cards from them and with which came the
=
ability to use their software (a collection of GNU and open source
software=
but with modified scripts and tweaks). At that time and as far as I know, =
there was no licence that mentioned anything about reserving the right to
c=
harge any more for this 'subscription' in the future etc.

I've just had notification that they now want to charge a =A330 annual fee
=
for the use of each card with the software WITH ANY VERSION - new or old.
i=
.e. even running old versions will stop working if I don't subscribe to
thi=
s new model.

I was wondering if this is actually legal - it's effectively holding me to
=
ransom or like a car dealer selling you a car and then a year later saying
=
that they were now going to charge extra for every mile travelled from now
=
on (and for no extra benefit). Since I had no contract or declaration etc
s=
tating that this may happen in the future. Effectively if I don't
subscribe=
I'm stuffed!

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Paul.





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