Re: Locked out of Access database
- From: Tom van Stiphout <no.spam.tom7744@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 12 May 2007 14:44:07 -0700
On Sat, 12 May 2007 20:42:50 GMT, chaseexchange
<chaseexchange@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Yes they do, but my mom tought me every conflict has two sides :-)
There were probably some documents before the original invoice.
Something like a statement of work, or some contract where you hired
this individual to write this program for you. Those may have relevant
information about the licensing situation.
Even if you win, the programmer may still not want to support you. Our
company has won a few times in small claims court, but we never saw a
dime.
Perhaps you can have someone mediate for you. Perhaps the Better
Business Bureau (I'm assuming you reside in the USA)? I'm sure you
have already considered a face-to-face meeting with the programmer.
-Tom.
Thanks for your reply, Tom. I realize that you are probably not an
attorney, but since you obviously have a firm grasp on this stuff,
which I do not, I have a question.
Based on the following facts:
1. My original invoice from last year, which was when I thought I was
purchasing this program, states nothing about my purchasing a license
to use my programmer's software. It states simply secure database and
training for X amount of dollars.
2. During our recent email communications, my programmer told me in
one mail that I did not purchase the program, just a license to use
his software. Then, in a later email, he states that I never paid for
a license. I'm assuming it's not common practice for a programmer to
allow someone to use their software for free, and if a license is
obtained to use a programmer's software, there is some sort of
documentation showing this.
I never paid for a license because a license was never part of our
agreement, in writing, invoiced or verbally. My programmer was fully
aware that I thought I owned the program. He simply took advantage of
my ignorance.
My question is, legally, do you think the above facts would support my
side well?
Thanks for your help.
chase
On Sat, 12 May 2007 13:06:32 -0700, Tom van Stiphout
<no.spam.tom7744@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sat, 12 May 2007 18:48:14 GMT, chaseexchange
<chaseexchange@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You probably need more the advice of a lawyer than of a programmer.
In most jurisdictions it is illegal for a company to lock you out of
your *data*. They can lock you out of the *application* that typically
accesses that data if for example you don't pay the annual license fee
that was agreed upon.
A good programmer should be able to write a provisional program pretty
quickly to access your most important data. That would buy you some
time to haggle about the details of the original agreement in front of
a Small Claims judge, and hedges your bets in case you cannot come to
an agreement.
-Tom.
First, a brief explanation of why this has happened. I purchased, what
I thought, was a fully functional program written in Access last year
from a local programmer. This program was to be used as my POS for an
online DVD store. It turns out that what the programmer actually gave
me was a "license" to use his software. This was not the agreement we
made, and he knows this. He took advantage of the fact that I knew
very little about software, and led me to believe that I owned the
program.
About 4 months ago, when logging in to my database, a message popped
up saying to call the programmer for an update. I called and he have
me a 7 digit number to enter when this message pops up. I entered it
and got in. This message popped up again about a month ago and I
entered the same number, which got me into the database. This message
popped up again a week ago. I entered the same number, but this time
another message popped up, saying "err 4", and I was denied access to
my database.
My programmer and I are in the middle of a billing dispute over an
update he did for my program which didn't work. I called him about
this err 4 message, and this is when he told me that I actually only
have a license to use his program. He went on to say that until I pay
for the update mentioned earlier, he would not grant me access into my
database. I checked all of my past invoices from him, and none of them
mention anything about my purchasing a license. The first invoice I
paid, which was when I paid for the program, is billed as being for
the database and training. I pointed this out to him, and he says that
he never charged me for the license. The fact is that he never charged
me for a license because that was never part of our agreement.
I do not see an agreement between he and I any time in the near
future. I am locked out of a database which I have been entering my
stock in for almost a year. This is putting a massive strain on my
business.
I know very little about programming, actually nothing. I have
attempted to recover the database through a couple of programs. The
closest I have come was through a trial version of a program called
Nuclear Kernel Access. I don't really understand the program, but when
I open the database, I can see my database information (inventory,
users, etc).
If anyone out there could help me with this dilemma, I would greatly
appreciate it. Thanks, in advance.
chase
.
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