RE: Question about transferring license from Help Systems

IANAL, but their "non-transferrable" clause sounds fishy to me. This
would probably be in there to void the license if your company were to
try to sell (or give away) the licensed software, but I'm not too sure
if that applies to corporate acquisitions, where the business unit
remains intact... A support contract is just that, a legally binding
agreement. You paid them when it was signed, and they cannot just
decide not to honor it, and then make you pay for it again.

I'd better shut up now...

Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of johnking@xxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 4:53 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Question about transferring license from Help Systems

Jerry,

That has been our experience, too. I've had few reasons to call since
the ASC
company was purchased by Help Systems, but all through the '90s and well
into
this decade their products have performed well and their tech support
has been
top-notch.

I don't want this thread to drift into a non-technical area, but this
situation
has made me aware of how vulnerable a company can be if license
agreements aren't
aggressively negotiated. A gentleman from Help Systems' marketing
department is
apparently monitoring this list and just called my office to help
explain their
position. He said that the license agreement states that the software is
non-transferable and that they were actually giving our new owners a
good deal by
only charging a $2000 fee to transfer the Sequel and Abstract programs.
Oh, and
by the way, we'll also have to start over on a new annual maintenance
agreement...

It is all very legal, but it seems pretty predatory to me. It is the
same staff,
running the same programs on the same box, but it somehow costs an
additional
$5000 since the company letterhead changed. If I were a salesman I
wouldn't be
able to sleep at night.

Caveat Emptor.

JK

On Thu 09/04/16 14:58 , Jerry Draper sent:

I have worked with Help Systems for years and my customers utilize

their

Schedule, Console, and Alert products extensively.

Their code works well and their tech support is about the best I've

ever

encountered. I always get a person who knows the product I have a
question about.

I can't speak to this licensing situation but it certainly doesn't

seem

congruent with what I know about Help Systems.

Jerry

All,

Our little service bureau was recently purchased and we

have run into a> problem

while transferring licenses to the new

ownership.>

At the beginning of 2009, the original company renewed

the maintenance> agreement

for the "Sequel" and "Abstract" programs that are

integral to the> application. I

was just informed that the salesperson at Help Systems

has not only> refused to

transfer the maintenance agreement to the new company,

but is also> insisting on a

complete re-purchase of both products.

We expected there would be some sort of fee to transfer

the license but> were

quite surprised to hear this. It seems a rather shabby

way to treat a> customer of

more than fifteen years.

Question: Is this normal behavior or is someone at Help

Systems> desperate to make

their quarterly sales quota?

Many thanks, JK

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