Patent ID: 6968384

Claim:
A system for managing licenses for protected software on a communication network, the system comprising: at least one client computer capable of being coupled to the communication network for requesting a commuter authorization to use the protected software and for storing a commuter authorization lifetime representing a time period for which the commuter authorization is valid; and at least one license server coupled to the communication network, each license server programmed for managing a distribution of allocations to use the protected software and at least one license server programmed for granting a commuter authorization in response to a request for a commuter authorization, wherein the at least one client computer is configured with the protected software, the protected software being independent of the at least one license server, wherein after a commuter authorization is communicated from a granting license server to a requesting client computer, the requesting client computer may use the protected software while coupled to or decoupled from the communication network until the commuter authorization lifetime expires, the requesting client computer utilizing the commuter authorization independently of the at least one license server, and wherein the requesting client computer is further programmed for detecting attempts to tamper with its internal clock and invalidating the commuter authorization if tampering is detected.