We are in the middle of developing a consumer sofwtare application
that will be sold from a web site and provided as an electronic
download. The software will be downloaded as a trial version
initially, with limited functionality which can then be "activated" to
release all functionality. Activation will be available in various
options starting with a 7 day activation (giving the customer 7 days
use of the software) right up to perpetual or lifetime licences. My
question is how best to manage this from a licence key point of view.
If we have a fixed key for 7 day, 30 day, 1 year and lifetime for
example, this appears to be very easy to fulfil from an ecommerce web
site, but my concern is that a customer could re-use a 7 day key every
time it expired - how can we issue a key which could not be used again
after being used once? However, whilst i have ideas around how we
might restrict this potential abuse, I must also be mindful that I do
not want to make my web site ecommerce section any more complex than
necessary. Also, I want to have no human intervention required from
our side to complete a sale - this must be fully automated within the
website. So I guess my main question is where is the compromise
between having a reasonably secure licencing system that is not too
easy to abuse, but at the same time be easy to incorporate into a
website for automatic fulfilment? PLease advise.

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 29 Jun 2005 12:41 PDT

Hello -

I've found a company who is very adept at providing exactly the
service you're looking for; among their clients are high profile
corporations employing license/key technology into their ecommerce
downloads.
They assure me that they can provide a solution that is completely
transparent to your users.

Would something like this be of interest?

jbf777

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Clarification of Question by mark_ecommerce-ga on 29 Jun 2005 13:00 PDT

Hi, I would be interested in understanding more about where a company
that provides this service would sit in between our web site designer,
and software application designer. And also how this type of service
is bought. Average price of our product will be $10 to $100, with a
target of 10,000 sales a month.

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 29 Jun 2005 13:14 PDT

Hello -

This service is a complete turnkey license and payment processing
solution and is negotiable based on the scope of service you're
looking for.  There is an SDK provided by the company that both of
your developers would use with respect to integrating into your
software and website.  Your site would connect to the company's
servers for a complete licensing/payment processing solution.  Once
setup, you simply collect a check from the company on a monthly basis.
 They take a (negotiable) percentage on each sale.  Let me know if you
have any other questions.

jbf777

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 29 Jun 2005 13:15 PDT

Also, there is an upfront setup cost for software.

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Clarification of Question by mark_ecommerce-ga on 29 Jun 2005 13:20 PDT

ok, please provide more info on the company, and some alternative
providers if you can locate any. thanks

Hello -

The company to which I refer is named "Protexis", and their licensing
services offering is detailed at this link:

http://www.protexis.com/solutions/pdf/Protexis_Licensing_05-02.pdf

  Protexis
  http://www.protexis.com
  Contact Glen: 604-806-3399x109
  Suite 300 - 355 Burrard Street
  Vancouver, BC
  Canada V6C 2G8

A large client of Protexis includes the well-known CNET.  Utilizing
their merchant account, they would process all payments, activations,
etc. and remit a check to you each month.

Pricing estimate:
$4500 upfront
8-17% of each product sold

????????????????????????????????

Software Key has various offerings, including a full, turnkey solution
as Protaxis, at a considerably less upfront charge:

Products of interest:

Protection Plus Professional Addition
http://www.softwarekey.com/swk_products/plus/professional01.asp

Instant Solo
http://www.softwarekey.com/swk_products/solo/instant/

Concept Software, Inc. 
PO Box 770459
Winter Garden, FL 34777-0459, USA
Phone: 321-221-1497
Fax: 321-234-9231

$329 upfront
9-10% for each product sold

They also have not-hosted, non-payment processing solutions.

?????????????????????????????????

New Territories has a similar hosted solution which integrates a
product called HASP SL by Aladdin (www.aladdin.com)

Contact Keith Deinert:

Keith Deinert
401-583-0226
401-662-9047 cell
http://www.newterritories.net

Per sale estimate for each product sold: 12-15%

For just a licensing-only SDK/hosting solution (no payment
processing), contact Terry Gall at Aladdin:

508-865-8519 / Terry Gall
http://www.aladdin.com

?????????????????????????????????

A company that offers an SDK to integrate into your setup is "Software
Shield".  For $799, their enterprise edition will provide you
unlimited activation codes, with multi-day customization capabilities.
 This would be in contrast to the services above, which are
full-service payment processing/licensing hosted solutions.

http://www.softwareshield.com/
+1-604-789-7833

?????????????????????????????????


Additional Link:

ESDN Now looks to offer similar solutions
http://www.esdnow.com/homepage/index.php?id=55&id_master=2&lang=English




Select search keywords:
software activation license solutions

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Clarification of Answer by jbf777-ga on 29 Jun 2005 15:19 PDT

Additional note:
I verbally confirmed with all of these companies as to their ability
to offer services applicable to your needs as you've outlined, with
the exception of  New Territories (I spoke with Aladdin who supplies
the licensing technology to New Territories).

Great Answer - Thanks

Thank you.  Please stop by again!

jbf777