Melda License transfer fee. Legal or not?

[Nicolas Castro]

Great to hear what you guys think. Nice to know I'm not alone in this. I'm talking with a friend of mine who is a lawyer and a also a great musician, he is absolutely sure there's a loophole in the law going on, bordering illegallity. I'll let you know what he thinks when he is done studying the case. Thanks to all!

[pk-1]

In conclusion, owning a Melda plugin is not really true.

Well, you actually don't own any software that you haven't written yourself. In a commercial context, you're only purchasing a right to use, not the software itself. In your car analogy, it would be more akin to leasing or renting rather than buying.

In Europe it's ilegal to prohibit license transfers, and allthough Melda permits them, they have seized an opportunity to profit from the situation, easy to do since the law has a loophole regarding license fees.

That loophole is very small though. The vendor can only charge an administrative fee for the license transfer; in particular, he cannot charge a percentage of the catalogue price.

The problem will be elsewhere: Melda licenses come with a lifetime update service. This part is not in the scope of the UsedSoft vs Oracle ruling and they can charge whatever they like for it.

[jens]

The facts remain:

It is not a 20% tax. It simply a prohibitive levy. It is not abusive and is completely avoideable.

One of these days you'll have to come to grips with the difference between what we call "facts" and what we call "opinion" - it's painfully obvious that you got both completely mixed up.

[TechHaus]

It is wild that Nintendo has banned Switch 2 consoles for people playing used games and Nintendo assuming the games were pirated.

[Halma]

For the people who found it TL;DR:

... To wrap it up, and just as a friendly advice: always check the license fee transfer price before buying a developer's plugin. ...

Btw your car analogy doesn't match here. If you buy a car you own it. If you buy software you obtain a licence that grants you the right to use it. You don't own the software. But you already knew this because you signed the EULA.

Or to wrap it up, and just as a friendly advice: always read a contract before signing it.

[vanerio]

I commented in a similar thread here, in case someone is interested.

Is it right that every person born and yet to be born, until the human species ceases to exist, has the right to receive free updates from a SINGLE license purchase?

I don't think it's valid to enforce lifetime free upgrades in perpetuity from just 1 sold license that keeps changing hands.

[Halma]

I commented in a similar thread here, in case someone is interested.

Is it right that every person born and yet to be born, until the human species ceases to exist, has the right to receive free updates from a SINGLE license purchase?

I don't think it's valid to enforce lifetime free upgrades in perpetuity from just 1 sold license that keeps changing hands.

Not really similar. Same poster, same topic. Different sub.

And as he already stated:

... I always thought the plugins were actually mine, they are not. ...

People should RTF EULA.

[bk]

I don't get license transfer fees at all anymore. What am I paying for? The transfer is nowadays done in a single mouse click.
Is it just to profit off an unsatisfied customer? Then excessive fees make them even angrier.

I get why there are transfer fees. From the devs perspective, it's another user that needs support and attention. New users usually require the most support, but I think a flat fee is sufficient.

[VariKusBrainZ]

Also the fact you can continue to use your licence after being sold. Theres no phone home to disable your install

[morelia]

I don't get license transfer fees at all anymore. What am I paying for? The transfer is nowadays done in a single mouse click.
Is it just to profit off an unsatisfied customer? Then excessive fees make them even angrier.

I get why there are transfer fees. From the devs perspective, it's another user that needs support and attention. New users usually require the most support, but I think a flat fee is sufficient.

I'd disagree. That might be the case but it's equally likely the buyer will pick up where the previous buyer left off. As a seasoned plugin user who only needs support when something is broken. A new buyer doesn't mean they are new to the game. Still, a sensible transfer fee is fair. It is a service after all. Regardless of whether they built a one click system, or do it manually each time.

[plexuss]

Show me the rationale for the license fee first and I'll provide an opinion. With no rationale it's just a money grab. caveat emptor - buyer beware.

[TVbene]

In the case of Melda it's easy for me personally. I've gotten so much stuff (updates, new plugins and sample packs) without any cost since I bought my licenses - so I always thought it's fair to pay a rate if I ever want to sell.

[paterpeter]

Yes, the transfer fees are high. But nobody's complaining about lifetime free updates, plugins being added to the bundles for free and an open, responsive developer who listens to his customers and pumps out features like mad. For me, that outweighs the cons of the plugins being practically NFR.

Are the license fees legal? I don't know and I don't really care. There are fights more worthwhile to fight out there.

[planet_b]

OT but yes, brings back some memories of the good ol' days (2007).. when I had to pay $200 fee to Nomad Factory to transfer their bundle, just because it was bought from a group buy for "too cheap".

[MJACau]

Yes, the transfer fees are high. But nobody's complaining about lifetime free updates, plugins being added to the bundles for free and an open, responsive developer who listens to his customers and pumps out features like mad. For me, that outweighs the cons of the plugins being practically NFR.

Are the license fees legal? I don't know and I don't really care. There are fights more worthwhile to fight out there.

I think that's a fair point, and considering Imageline owns Melda, as with Imagelines's FL Studio it can't be transfered ( You're married for life to FL )
Melda is at least is transferable.
I maybe bias, Melda's tools have been good bang for buck for quality for me.