[Tfug] Clarification: database licensing theory to practice

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Paul,

> We use this application under an
> Oracle application specific full use license.  It
> allows us to use Oracle 9i Enterprise Edition only with this
> application.  We have named user access licenses for
> both the application and Oracle Enterprise Edition. 
> The company that sells the licenses has created the database
> structure, triggers, functions, etc.  If I want to

Hmmm... then you are subject to the terms of the license.
I.e., these things are things that *they* created, not
you.  They can argue (in court) that the structure of
the data was something that is part of their "value added"
(i.e., something you paid for as part of their expertice).
I.e., these things are just manifestations of "code" in
a different form.

For example, if I write a piece of code to compute sales
tax on a purchase:

tax ::= amount * TAX_RATE / 100

you would agree (?) that this is "source code" and (though trivial
and no doubt easily argued away as obvious, prior art) thus
something that the owner of that code (me) can consider as IP.

Well, if I instead build a table of (amount, tax) tuples, how
is that different (functionally)?  I.e., I can choose to do
the latter for some reason of efficiency (?) yet it is still
part of the product that you *licensed* from me...

OTOH, if *you* used Oracle as a RDBMS and created your own
tables, then the structure THAT YOU CREATED is something that
you can claim to own -- though the actual IMPLEMENTATION of
that structure is something Oracle can claim as "its own".
I.e., you can take the SQL definitions but can't take the
"disk images".

Of course, IANAL and know only what you have posted about
the application, data, etc. so can't speak authoritatively
on the subject  :>

> migrate it to Oracle or EnterpriseDB or something else, I am
> assuming I can recreate the tables and migrate the data but
> that all the functions etc are "source code" and therefore
> belong to the application.  The licensing company has
> stopped development at Oracle 9i and does not support RAC

That is the problem with all COTS solutions -- an implicit
dependancy on the product and vendor.  Just because a vendor doesn't
provide the product/features that you want/need, doesn't mean
you can usurp their IP.

What does your *license* say?

> (clustering).  The application supposedly needs the
> Enterprise Edition features and supposedly includes some
> SPARC-specific coding.  We use a 4-way Sun V480 talking
> to an EMC FC-5700 fiber array with 2X7+1 drives (RAID 10)
> over 1G FC HBAs.
> 
> This is an issue because the array has been problematic and
> management that does not want to update.  Our database
> has become more and more critical as we have added more
> functions and time-critical services (ie Same-day
> delivery).  I am trying to find a way to have a
> majority of my data and services online without paying for a
> whole 'nother set of Oracle and application licenses. 
> Though I have made recommendations for upgrades, we are
> subject to the same economy as everyone else. 
> The license allows for emergency copies of the software. I
> am thinking that maybe I can keep a second database alive on
> another array (iSCSI?) attached to the original server using
> either OS copies or Oracle utilities.  If the array
> went down I could bring the database up on the second array
> and the original server.  If the original server was
> down, I could link the second array to my backup 2-way V480
> and be back in action.  I don't want to replicate the
> Fiber stuff because I don't think I could support it without
> another contract.  I do have a backup FC-5700 for
> parts.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> -- Paul Steinbach
> MIS Manager
> Sam Levitz Furniture
> 
> E-mail: MIS at samlevitz.com
> Phone:  520.624.7443 X2571
> Cell:   520.247.5730
> 
> 
> 
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