[TeMPOraL]

Even if you could execute the code you somehow obtained, but for which you've somehow lost the license, for ChessBase it becomes worthless, as they can no longer distribute - whether sell or give away - anything building up on it.

[dmurray]

They do also have a cloud offering - you pay them to evaluate a chess position on their computer - so I could see the license to use the code being important, though it's separate to their flagship offering of shrinkwrap software.