Copy protection provides the mechanism to enforce the software license
agreement. It works by enforcing the application to detect the Key whenever it
is started. While the Key system stores the unique characteristics of the Key
device (or called hardware signatures), the mechanism essentially ties the
application to the specific Key device. More specifically, when the application
is started, the protection system checks the current hardware signatures
against those stored in the Key. If they match, the protection system lets the
application to continue to run as normal. Since devices typically have
different hardware signatures, any illegal attempt to copy or use the protected
application on another computer will cause a signature mismatch, and the
protection system will terminate the application.
When detecting the Key, the protection system also reads Key Properties
that define the license of the application such as execution limit, expiration
date, etc. The protection system constantly monitors the current status of Key
Properties. When a limit is reached, it terminates the application and displays
the specified messages such as registration dialog, license status, etc.