Magento Enterprise. What happens if you can't afford it anymore?

Question

I know this isn't a code-base question, is more like a legal advice. One of my clients paid for Magento Enterprise last year but can't afford it now. Do you know what happens if you don't renew the license? Can they interrupt your website or can you carry on with that enterprise installation and have no more updates or support like other extensions/software and then, downgrade to Community Edition?

If anyone have had any experience with this that can help, please, I'm a little bit lost and I can't find anything in the Magento website about the Enterprise Agreement.

thanks a lot,

Answer 1

Magento Enterprise EULA states in section 6.3:

6.3. Within thirty (30) days after termination of the Software license or this Agreement 
or expiration of the license term as specified in the Magento Order Form, Licensee shall
certify in writing to Magento that Licensee has ceased use of any and all Proprietary
Materials and that all copies or embodiments thereof in any form, including partial 
copies within modified versions, have been destroyed.

Basically, you have thirty days after your license expires to either downgrade or move.

I would also speak with your area rep, just to verify.

Answer 2

Technically speaking nothing will happen. Magento licensing is done on a honesty based policy and backed up by a EULA license as above.

Since there is no easy method to downgrade from EE to CE your best option for your client would be consider migrating to a fresh install of CE.

Answer 3

As already mentioned you need to downgrade via a CE migration, the technical side is quick, it's the user and order migration that's the primary problem. Don't be surprised if eBay come asking for back payments within 9-12mths if you continue running past 30days, happens with many of the top platforms.