Re: Switching alarm system - can I convert my database?

["Robert L Bass" <RobertLBass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> The conversion could pretty much be operated, but this would require
tools if we want to clone existing cardholder and zone information and
insert into the new system.
>
> Although the "data" belongs to us, it might be hard to extract (short of
cutting/pasting) without infringing on the EULA.  The practice is known
as vendor "lock-in", e.g. software systems which manage patient medical
data.  If the company/doctor stops paying the fees, the data remains
inaccessible.

Vendor "lock-in" is a technique which database authors sometimes use to force users to keep paying.  It's legal but it doesn't grant
the vendor ownership of the data.

There's discussion of two relevent cases in ECommerce Times which sheds some light on the subject.  Here's the URL:
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/36296.html.  In the first case the issue was ownership of data which the database *users*
compiled.  The court found that the data was not the property of the author.  The second case was quite different.  There the
plaintiffs wanted access to data which another firm (the PGA Tour) had collected and entered.  The court rightly found that the
party which entered the data owned the data.  The plaintiff was claiming he data was public domain.  The court said they no.

As to hacking the database to get your data, there's no law against that.  If you were hacking to make use of the software itself it
would be a different story.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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