You hit the nail on the head. This is why I and many others (including Ronran I believe) feel that severing ties with TPL could spell disaster. Recovering from such would burn time and money, even if we were somehow able to secure all the data generated in the reverse engineering effort. The "pain" could only be limited if we were able to not only secure the data, but those who generated (intimately understand) that data. Add to this problem the need for all prospective licensee contact data and the MMP licensing team. Nightmare....

The better approach would seem to be to maintain relations with TPL while watching them and their actions very closely, and force the issue when issues arise. IMO, this appears to be the avenue being pursued.

JMHOs,

SGE