Patent ID: 7519631

Claim:
A method in an electronic data processing system for maintaining licensure of livestock management software, comprising the steps of: initiating the livestock management software on a local computer; accessing an initial key stored on the local computer, the initial key being generated at least from an electronic identification number (EID) and a premise identification number (PID) for at least one animal; parsing the initial key for a lock data; comparing the lock data to a predetermined lock condition to determine if the livestock management software has expired; requesting the user of the local computer to synchronize with a remote computer over a computer network if the livestock management software has expired; accessing one of a remote database or a local database, each database having the indicia of livestock stored thereon; calculating a new key from at least the EID and the PID for at least one animal indicia of livestock stored by the livestock management software and one of Media Access Control (MAC) or Internet Protocol (IP) address of the local computer to authenticate the live stock management software, if synchronization is requested: and operating the livestock management software normally unless the livestock management software has expired.