Patent ID: 8224750

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for upgrading a license for an installed software product from a first license to a second license, the method comprising: storing, on the computer, a software product, the first license, the second license, and an associating file, the first license is a trial license and the second license is a full version license, wherein the associating file comprises for each license, a Channel ID, and information identifying limitations; receiving, by the computer, a first product key from a user; identifying, by the computer, the first license from the associating file using a portion of the first product key and the Channel ID for the first license; generating, by the computer, configuration data and including, by the computer, the first license and limitations of the first license in the configuration data; receiving, by the computer, a notification of a violation of terms of the first license; in response to receiving the notification, requesting, by the computer, a second product key from the user; receiving, by the computer, a second product key from the user; identifying, by the computer, the second license from the associating file using a portion of the second product key and the Channel ID for the second license; and replacing, by the computer, in the configuration data the first license and the limitations of the first license with a copy the second license and limitations of the second license, respectively.