Tom Jenkins
Lifetime Supporting Member
Jim, I want to make a clear distinction between your supplier using passwords and copyright protection on ladder logic and withholding passwords on instrument calibrations.
If they developed the ladder logic and it contains proprietary algorithms or proprietary techniques then they are within their rights in protecting the program, and their "mistake" was in not disclosing ahead of time that they would do so.
On the other hand, if these are third party flow meters and the pasword is simply protecting scaling and other set up data, then refusing to provide this information on instruments you paid for and own is nothing short of extortion!
Based on your last post I agree that this supplier sounds pretty shady. I strongly suggest that you have your attorneys involved in the $6,000 pay off to make sure that all necessary info is provided and that the supplier is agreeing to give you full access rights. Note, however, that getting attorneys involved will add at least a three month delay to your getting the info.
If they developed the ladder logic and it contains proprietary algorithms or proprietary techniques then they are within their rights in protecting the program, and their "mistake" was in not disclosing ahead of time that they would do so.
On the other hand, if these are third party flow meters and the pasword is simply protecting scaling and other set up data, then refusing to provide this information on instruments you paid for and own is nothing short of extortion!
Based on your last post I agree that this supplier sounds pretty shady. I strongly suggest that you have your attorneys involved in the $6,000 pay off to make sure that all necessary info is provided and that the supplier is agreeing to give you full access rights. Note, however, that getting attorneys involved will add at least a three month delay to your getting the info.