Patent ID: 7747531

Claim:
A method for the delivery of secure software license information to authorize use of a software product, the method comprising the steps of: (a) associating with a software publisher a private and public key pair, wherein the software publisher provides the software product and includes a software program and an authorization program within the software product; (b) associating a product private key and public key with the software product, wherein at least one of the product private and public keys is digitally signed by the publisher private key, and including the product private and public keys with the authorization program; (c) upon invocation of the software product on a computer, (i) generating by the authorization program a license request containing user and product information, (ii) digitally signing the license request with the product private key, and (iii) transferring the signed license request to a key authority, (d) in response to the key authority receiving the signed license request, (i) generating a license using data extracted from the license request and license terms, (ii) signing the license with the publisher private key, and (iii) transmitting the signed license to the authorizing program; and (e) validating the signed license using the publisher public key, and using the license terms to control the use of the software product.