ACAD/AEC - UK LICENCE
Ian Robinson
Can someone please clarify for me the licensing of Autocad?
I have fully licenced copies of Autocad Release 12 for Windows & AEC
4.0.
When I bought AEC I was specifically told by my Autodesk Approved Dealer
that it was possible to arrange with Autodesk for the license to be
transferred to another party.
I'm not a lawyer but the licence agreement appears to imply this as at
least a possibility:
Section 1C says:-
"You may not transfer, or distribute (including rental, sale, licence or
loan) all or part of Autocad or its accompanying documentation to any
person without Autodesk's prior written consent"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When I rang Autodesk UK, they say that the license cannot be
transferred.
In the four years that I've had the programme,I've seen numerous
architectural practices offering for sale - and indeed seeking for
purchase - "Registerable copies of Autocad". These have appeared in the
UK's most widely read and respected architectural publication and
appeared not to be attempts at "under the counter deals".
What is and what has been in the past, the position? Does anybody know
of instances where Autodesk have consented to tranfer licenses and
underwhat circumstances?
I want to upgrade/convert to Release 14 or to Mechanical Desktop.
Selling the AEC I don't want, would assist me in purchasing MDT [good
for Autodesk] and would assist someone else, more convinced by the AEC
route to get into it (ultimately good for Autodesk).
I would be grateful for licensed users views. Request for copies of
anything will be IGNORED.
--
Ian Robinson
Stephen Tate
Ian
Call Autodesk again - you may get to speak to another person, perhaps a bit
more helpful.
As far as I am aware, the sale of AutoCAD is legitimate and Autodesk do give
permission. In the case of AEC however, the software is protected only by
the authorisation code which is derived from the AutoCAD serial number. So,
assuming you sold your AEC to someone else, Autodesk approved and issued the
new code, what would prevent you from running AEC from cpied disks? Perhaps
if you sold the complete AutoCAD/AEC package they may be more co-operative.
That way the AEC code would remain unchanged and the purchaser could obtain
new disks to personalise the AutoCAD (at a nominal fee). You would not be
able to run AEC anymore becuse your new AutoCAD would have a different
serial number. It would be worth pointing out to them you want to upgrade to
14 at the same time, your dongle would be swaped out and you wouldn't be
able to run AEC 4.0 anyway!
Another point is that AEC is £1600 - to upgrade 4.0 to 5.1 costs £400.
dealers often discount the system more heavily when AEC is included, so how
much will you be able to get for it? I've looked into this before and it
wasn't anywhere near what I'd expected (which was ok for me, because I was
looking to buy!).
Stephen Tate
Ian Robinson wrote in message <4m3+KCA4...@idrarch.demon.co.uk>...