Does upgrading to PT12 (with support plan) prevent licence/asset sale?

[Righty27]

So, with the recently lapsed plan reinstatement fees for HD clarified and the continuing assumption that lapsed vanilla support plans cannot be reinstated (i.e. a new licence is required), a dilemma surely being considered by pre-PT12 fence-sitters everywhere ...

* Does upgrading to PT12 mean that you can no longer sell/transfer your Pro Tools licence/iLok asset?

* If so, and with Avid showing no signs of changing course as we move into the final 6 months of the old licensing regime, it appears that the decision to stick with Pro Tools or move to a new DAW is now a $600 question for vanilla users

* Current 'buy and sell' listings for perpetual licences are around the $400 level so, if one upgrades for $199 on the last day of 2015, on the next day you'd have lost the opportunity to sell your licence for $400 (on top of an extra $200 out of pocket)

On the current terms and conditions, I suspect some users wouldn't upgrade to PT12 with a support plan if Avid gave this away - perpetual licences will still retain value after 2016 just because they are transferable?!

[nst7]

According to the FAQ, you can not sell a license that has a support plan currently, but they are working on a solution for that.

[deanrichard]

Working on it??? I don't think a solution would take much work. You simply change the phrase "can not" to "can". Problem solved.

Originally Posted by nst7

According to the FAQ, you can not sell a license that has a support plan currently, but they are working on a solution for that.

[CME]

I actually just emailed support about selling a vanilla pt12 license with support, when I noticed it couldn't be transferred via the ilok app. You have to wait for the support plan to expire before you can sell it. And then the new owner can buy a support plan if they choose. I asked for some clarification on time frames. But I haven't received a response as of yet.

[deanrichard]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't any change in ownership also imply that if the new buyer allows a lapse in the support plan it will need to be "upgraded", and also create a 25% penalty if the lapse is more than 30 days?

Originally Posted by CME

I actually just emailed support about selling a vanilla pt12 license with support, when I noticed it couldn't be transferred via the ilok app. You have to wait for the support plan to expire before you can sell it. And then the new owner can buy a support plan if they choose. I asked for some clarification on time frames. But I haven't received a response as of yet.

[Righty27]

Originally Posted by deanrichard

Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't any change in ownership also imply that if the new buyer allows a lapse in the support plan it will need to be "upgraded", and also create a 25% penalty if the lapse is more than 30 days?

We know these are the conditions for HD (well ... we did but Marianna's Facebook post was taken down?!) and vanilla users would need a completely new licence once their plan lapses, but ...

The buyer would also have the option of sticking on the last version and contiuing to use this perpetual licence as long as their OS/hardware allowed them to.

However, just to kick off another unanswered strand to this, some say that this user is entitled to bug fixes, although quite how Avid are supposed to issue these fixes after the release of a new major upgrade, no one knows?!

[CME]

Originally Posted by Righty27

(snip) and vanilla users would need a completely new licence once their plan lapses, but ...

(Snip)

That's why I asked for clarification. They implied I could sell it, after support had expired, and the buyer could then buy coverage and be good to go again. So maybe avid is changing things. I still don't like that I can't sell my license until March of next year. But if they're changing the way support works. And if they are now allowing you to let it expire and then buy back in later, I guess that could be an improvement. Depending on the terms. Which I'm sure we'll find out about "soon".

[Righty27]

Originally Posted by CME

That's why I asked for clarification. They implied I could sell it, after support had expired, and the buyer could then buy coverage and be good to go again. So maybe avid is changing things. I still don't like that I can't sell my license until March of next year. But if they're changing the way support works. And if they are now allowing you to let it expire and then buy back in later, I guess that could be an improvement. Depending on the terms. Which I'm sure we'll find out about "soon".

If this is the case for a transferred licence, surely it would be reasonable to expect to reinstate a lapsed support plan (with no penalty) without having to sell it?!

Who told you this CME ... support? This whole thing is looking like more of a moving target than it was before Avid said anything or attempted to clarify!

Hopefully, Marianna's involvement (I doubt she'll be happy at having to communicate a hugely unpopular HD 'clarification' following the previous day's official Avid Twitter post ... only to have it retracted) will lead to the right people starting to realise what a mess this is.

FWIW, it does appear that Avid's swiftest action yet on any of this was after a barrage of negative comments on their Facebook. I'm not a user but suggest that they may be paying more attention to what is said there than on DUC :)

[roberts]

There is an easy workaround,
Register the Pro Tools license to separate ilok account and separate Avid Account.
If you want to sell the license then sell off of the accounts ….
*SOLVED*

[CME]

Originally Posted by roberts

There is an easy workaround,

Register the Pro Tools license to separate ilok account and separate Avid Account.

If you want to sell the license then sell off of the accounts ….

*SOLVED*

I wish I had done that. Hindsight is 20/20.

And yes avid support is who I've been communicating with.