[net.legal] Royalty request legal?

west@gargoyle.UUCP (Steve Westfall) (01/26/86)

What is your opinion of this???

*** NOWHERE *** in their advertizing or promotional literature that I
have seen, and nowhere in their C-Isam manual (including the license
agreement), does Relational Database Systems, Inc. ("RDBS") ever
state that applications programmers who use their C-Isam file management
product (i.e., link it with code that they are going to sell)
must pay royalties to RDBS.  But recently during a phone
conversation with someone at RDBS it was incidentally mentioned
that I am using C-Isam with my applications programming.
I was then informed that I must sign a royalty agreement and send
RDBS $2500.00 before I can sell my program to anyone
($25.00 for each of the first 100 copies I will sell)

I have no objection to paying royalties to RDBS, and I am about to
put the check in the mail, but I am concerned that, with their
royalty policy mentioned nowhere in their literature, I will be
paying them royalties while others in a similar situation
(my competitors) will not pay because no one ever told them they
had to!  Does RDBS have the right to ask for royalties when they
don't publicize it?


Steve Westfall		      uucp:    ihnp4!gargoyle!west
Infotronx, Inc.
159 W. Roosevelt Rd.	      Phone:  312-231-6054 (ofc)
West Chicago, IL 60185