Patent ID: 6948168

Claim:
A method of installing licensed software on an end user's computer comprising: providing an end user computer having a program storage device and a unique computer identifier distinguishing the end user computer from other computers, the unique computer identifier being selected from the group consisting of a BIOS serial number and a network adapter address; providing a network computer having access to a program storage device containing software selected from the group consisting of programs to be executed by the end user's computer and database information for license to end users and a program storage device containing a database listing computer identifiers licensed to run the software; using the network computer to contact the end user computer and determine its end user computer identifier; verifying listing of the end user computer identifier in the network computer database; based on the verification that the end user computer identifier is listed in the network computer database, downloading said software from the network computer program storage device; and using the network computer, installing the downloaded software on the end user computer program storage device such that the downloaded and installed software is not in a form that may be transferred from the end user computer and installed on another computer.