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Software protection using an installation product having an entitlement file

  • US 9,946,848 B2
  • Filed: 02/26/2009
  • Issued: 04/17/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2009
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method for establishing entitlement to a computer program product, comprising the steps of:

  • obtaining from a licensor of a computer program product, a certified client identity of a licensee of the computer program product, wherein said certified client identity comprises licensee identification information, and cryptographic keys comprising a private key of the licensee and a signature verification public key of the licensor, wherein the certified client identity is generated and utilized by the licensor in a pre-deployment registration process to produce an entitlement file that is unique to said certified client identity, wherein the pre-deployment process is performed by the licensor prior to making the computer program product available to the licensee;

    obtaining the entitlement file from the licensor which is digitally signed with a private key of the licensor of the computer program product, wherein the entitlement file specifies terms of the licensee'"'"'s entitled use of the computer program product;

    obtaining from the licensor an encoded version of the computer program product which is encoded with a public key of the licensee;

    transforming the encoded version of the computer program product into an installation product in a computer storage medium using the certified client identify and the private key of the licensee; and

    during the transforming, automatically performing a registration process using the entitlement file to establish entitled use of the computer program product by the licensee and to include registration information within the installation product,wherein the transforming and registration process comprises;

    decoding the encoded version of the computer program product using the private key of the licensee;

    decoding a digital signature associated with the entitlement file using the signature verification public key of the licensor to verify that the terms of the licensee'"'"'s entitled use of the computer program product as provided by the entitlement file are valid; and

    automatically verifying the licensee'"'"'s entitled use of the computer program product using the validated terms of the licensee'"'"'s entitled use as specified by the entitlement file; and

    enabling installation of the computer program product if the licensee'"'"'s entitled use of the computer program product is verified by the registration process;

    wherein said method comprises an automated process that is performed by a computer executing program instructions.

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