Patent ID: 8141045
Filing Date: 2012-03-20
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A computer-implementable method executable by a data-processing system for automatically identifying a source of copied software, comprising: receiving a suspected copy of a software application; identifying a particular type of object code for said suspected copy; scanning said suspected copy to identify an identifying marker in said suspected copy, wherein said identifying marker automatically identifies a particular authorized copy of said software application and a particular version family of said suspected copy of the software application according to a stage of the product development process with respect to a common code base of said software application; in response to identifying an identifying marker in said suspected copy, extracting said identifying marker in said suspected copy; and the data processing system automatically determining an exact product of said suspected copy using said identified particular type of object code and said identified particular version family, wherein one or more products are associated with said common code base; wherein said common code base to which said identifying marker applies is capable of being written to depend explicitly on the presence of said identifying marker, wherein any products generated from said common code are inhibited from being operable if said identifying marker is subjected to tampering.