We have a vendor for a CRM product we have been using. We acquired it as part of a business I bought a few years ago. We have been paying a fee each year which our understanding was, to cover access to support, new versions that come out, and the live update service they provided. 

Upon letting them know we would not be renewing, they have told us that if we stop paying, they will cut off access to the product completely, effectively preventing us access to OUR data. We don't need support, maintenance, new versions, or live feed data any longer, but our historical data is important for obvious reasons. 

It's an onpremise product based on a SQL back end. I have the database backed up and protected.

I recall being very clear about this during initial conversations with them when we bought the other company, but they are denying that these conversations took place. Unfortunately, I can not see any documentation to support my view, but given how I feel about protecting my data, there is no way I would have agreed to continue using this product as part of the acquisition, regardless. 

Anyone know if there is any protection against a company locking you out of your data?