Patent ID: 8396807

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: determining, by an application element manager running on a data processor in a virtualization system including at least one hypervisor for concurrently running at least two guest operating systems, a software license to be purchased using virtual currency units by an application running on a virtual machine in the virtualization system, wherein the virtual machine is a software implementation of a computer that runs at least one of the guest operating systems and executes one or more programs or applications on the at least one of the guest operating systems, and wherein the software license is valid for a predetermined period of time; determining, by a licensing element manager running on a data processor in a virtualization system, the number of copies of the software license available for purchase in the virtualization system; determining, by the licensing element manager, the purchase price for a copy of the software license; automatically purchasing, by the application element manager, a copy of the software license for the application based at least in part on the determined purchase price for a copy of the software license; allocating the purchased copy of the software license to the application for the predetermined period of time; increasing, by the licensing element manager, the purchase price for the copy of the software license; and determining, by the application element manager, whether to release the software license or to pay additional virtual currency units for continued use of the software license for the remainder of the predetermined period of time.