Are there legal concerns for creating add ons for large applications?

Question

I know this is more of a legal/lawyer question, but I'm sure others have run across this at some point so any insight is helpful.

I'm looking to build and sell add on tools for large enterprise applications. The products I want to work with don't have APIs for directly accessing information, but store the majority of their data in a SQL database, so it is visible without reverse-engineering formats. The companies that create these applications have partner programs, but they are only for sales channel relationships, not technical ones.

Are there issues with creating products that work with the large applications without establishing a relationship/partnership with the company first?

Microsoft doesn't seem to require any sort of partnership to create 3rd party tools for their products. Do other large companies allow the same thing (Oracle, EMC, Autonomy)?

Answer 1

• Anyone could sue you for pretty much any reason. They will probably lose, but only after you spend a lot of time/money.

• Large companies like believing just because their program wrote out some data, that they own the data. This is nonsense, but in the end, it would be your responsibility to prove to a judge/jury this point.

In other words, you're completely in the right, but that doesn't mean that you won't have trouble.

Answer 2

Yes, there are major issues with this approach.

First off, if there are no documented APIs, there are no guarantees that your product will continue to work.

Secondly, you may be unable to use the brands associated with the product you are extending, as you have no copyright license.

I would think twice before doing this.