<resolved> How to prevent software theft

[SaharaWizard]

Hello ppl
I am sure you have been faced with the same situation many times, so I am hoping someone has a fool-proof solution for this:
How can you prevent your clients from copying and selling copies of your software?
I am working on a software for a client and want to make sure that they would not be selling copies of this to other people without my knowledge.
Thanks for the suggestions in advance.
SW

[Tempestknight]

Hrm... couldn't you make it so ur program would have to send a message to a server in order to work. Once it has messaged the server make it so it doesn't do it again :\ thats prolly what i would do

[dglienna]

There is no fool-proof way to do it. Look in the codebank. martinliss has code that will let you register you program with each client. I have a method that requires activation prior to running the software. there are a couple ways to do it, including a service called ActiveLock (which I haven't tried)

Good Luck.

[RobDog888]

The way we do it is to include in the contract a section describing their license for the app.
We give them full control to use the program but they are not allowed to sell, modify,
or distribute it (for free or $$$) or if they want the source code then they can pay extra to purchase it.

[Winanjaya]

Or use dongle keylock (available in USB and serial) ..

good luck

[Pino]

just to add my 2 cents in here,

There is no way to make a program 100% safe, if someone really wants it they will get it. You can just do as much as possible to offput them.

#

Pino

[TupacShakur]

Actually, i think (am not sure) that it's enough to include a copyright/lisence texts in ur program to legally prohibit them from selling or copying ur program. Now it's up to you to follow up and prosecute them (if it's worth it, and if you live in a country where intellectual theft is considered a crime by practice and not only by law)...

Good Luck

[Pino]

Actually, i think (am not sure) that it's enough to include a copyright/lisence texts in ur program to legally prohibit them from selling or copying ur program. Now it's up to you to follow up and prosecute them (if it's worth it, and if you live in a country where intellectual theft is considered a crime by practice and not only by law)...

Good Luck

Yes, in a law following world.....

Most music is copyright, but downloading and file sharing clients still provide a service to copy them.

[szlamany]

Hello ppl
I am sure you have been faced with the same situation many times, so I am hoping someone has a fool-proof solution for this:
How can you prevent your clients from copying and selling copies of your software?
I am working on a software for a client and want to make sure that they would not be selling copies of this to other people without my knowledge.
Thanks for the suggestions in advance.
SW

So many people have said similar things here...

We always have our customers sign contracts indicating they do not have rights to sell or distribute our software in any way - or allow others to use it. All our source code contains "copy-right" and ownership language (actually at the top of each and every sub and function).

Something like this:

'=====================================
'Module         :basMain.bas
'Application    :AMC
'Author         :Name goes here
'Creation Date  :November 18, 2002
'=====================================
'Business name
'Address line
'City, State, Zip
'=====================================
Public Sub AddTabInfo(ByVal intTabNo As Integer, ByVal strName As String)

We also like to receive on-going revenue from a customer - so annual maintenance and licence fees are normal for us.

With this business model, we have had some clients for over 20 years. We end up being more of a business/IT resource to our customers, instead of being just a software supplier.

During the past 25 years I have suspected that some of the IT directors from some of my customer sites have moved onto other jobs and brought along the software I supplied to them. I've never chased them down though...