We have license for both perpertual and subscription. The one we had is autocad Lite version, where autocad full version is trial version. We are using trial for testing the extra function in full version.
They are saying software that is no longer installed, was cracked? Unless you uninstalled it just before the audit (when you where made aware it was going to happen), i cant see how they can say anything like this. My suspicion is that there is more to this story though.
Wtf? There is good feedback above but who do these guys think they are rolling up on your turf making demands? Lolol I assume this must be corporate led or law enforced? Either way I would bend over & tell them to kiss my anus! Smooches!!
My guess is what possibly happened is the trial was installed it was used for the trial period then some months later it was uninstalled. Possibility 1 the uninstaller triggered a phone home. Possibility 2 it was launched said it was expired then uninstalled that would of caused it to phone home.
As mentioned above if they want to claim it was a cracked version of the trial software ask them for their phone home logs. If there is a log of it being a trial version then it was probably not cracked because usually they block or redirect the phone home.
If they say no then get a lawyer or say legal is asking for it. Then it goes nuclear and you will need that lawyer or they will drop it and say oops our bad and you send them a invoice for 1,575 (just for the irony since that is the price of an auto Cad license).
They assumed the trial version is a cracked version, not a trial version but they cannot find pirated serial number (for licensed unit, we have a series of serial no ) or keygen. we uninstalled long before the notice of audit.
I had an issue with W10 that said it was a fake copy. after some reactivation scripts it accepted my key was genuine (and had been for many years). Might not be the same as your issue, but could be similiar.
This almost sounds like a marketing lead scam. Where when you install the trial license, it asks you to register. That registered information is then forwarded on to a local distributor to follow up with a marketing call to sell you on the software. But it sounds (to me) like the local distributor has taken it to another level as to tell you, you installed a cracked version of the software (with no evidence of such) and you must pay a penalty as well as purchase the software with a subscription.Since its been so long and the software was uninstalled at the end of the trial there is no way for you to prove otherwise.