Legality of using previously open source data?
To protect the innocent/guilty, I won't name the company here.
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Need a data source for one of my MVP features which previously was open for commercial use
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After a merger, company now offers a "no-cost" license to use so long as proper attribution is given. Have been talking with them off/on multiple times for 12 months to gain access. Seems I am too small a company for them to really pay attention to me regardless of their public statements re: access. I have even asked them to come up with a "per api call" fee that was fair to both parties (until I can get bigger and pay their ~5K average minimum fee) but no luck so far.
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Came across an academic study on github which used this company's data from 1 year ago.
Am I allowed to use the old data set for my internal research and commercial purposes? I only want to do the right thing.
Thanks in advance!
I don’t recommend this to everyone but me personally (while my product is small) usually use abide by the principle: Ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
That's a great question. I'm curious to hear the answer once you find one. Ultimately, it might be worth just talking to a lawyer about this — especially if you're investing a lot of time and money in it. Most online business attorneys are pretty reasonable for an hour (under $200) and it could save you a lot of money down the line.