Patent ID: 8375460

Claim:
A computerized software protection method, the method being performed in an electronic device and comprising: (a) invoking a software program of the electronic device, wherein the software program includes information of one or more media access control (MAC) addresses of electronic devices, and one or more serial numbers of hard disk drives; (b) searching for a MAC address of the electronic device; (c) determining whether the MAC address of the electronic device matches one of the MAC addresses that are included in the software program; (d) searching for a serial number of a hard disk drive that stores the software program in the electronic device upon the condition that the MAC address of the electronic device matches one of the MAC addresses included in the software program; (e) determining whether the serial number of the hard disk drive matches one of the serial numbers that are included in the software program; (f) obtaining usage logs of the software program from a file of the hard disk drive upon the condition that the serial number of the hard disk drive matches one of the serial numbers included in the software program, wherein the usage logs comprise a last run time of the software program; and (g) permitting the software program to run in the electronic device or denying usage of the software program in the electronic device according to a comparison of the last run time and a current system time of the electronic device.