White Papers

SOFTWARE PIRACY: CAUSES, EFFECTS, AND PREVENTION  

According to the Fifth Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study, by the end of 2007 there were more than one billion PCs installed around the world—nearly half of which contained pirated software. Worldwide revenue losses due to software piracy were $48 billion that same year, an increase of 20% from the preceding year. Whether intentional or not, a vast amount of revenue is lost to piracy and diverted from software companies and local governments. Revenue that otherwise would be reinvested in R&D to develop and improve legitimate software programs simply does not reach software publishers. This paper discusses the causes and consequences of software piracy, and presents software publishers with a way to protect their Intellectual Property and increase revenues, including guidelines for evaluating software digital rights management (DRM) solutions.

Exploring the True Costs of Building Your Own Software Protection & Licensing System  

In today's competitive marketplace and economic downturn, it's important to protect your software from piracy and illegal use, and safeguard your intellectual property from reverse engineering. It's also vitally important to be able to respond quickly to business opportunities that require flexible licensing of your software - and in the end to ensure license compliance. Building a comprehensive software protection, secure licensing and activation solution is a complex undertaking. This paper discusses the challenges of building your own software ware security and licensing infrastructure and through TCO analysis, examines the real costs involved–many of them routinely overlooked by software vendors–when a decision is made to develop a protection and licensing system in-house.

Addressing New Challenges in Software Protection for .NET  

The .NET Framework is one of the most popular Windows development environments. Designed as the basis for the majority of new Windows applications, the .NET Framework was built with a variety of goals in mind. These include: interoperability, portability, language independence, easier deployment and enhanced security. However, the .NET Framework also brings with it inherent security risks. Those responsible for major software projects must weigh the possibility of security breaches within the .NET framework. This paper discusses two possible security issues within .NET development: reverse engineering and unwanted modification of code and presents three approaches to securing .NET code to protect your proprietary Intellectual Property (IP).

The Business Value of Aligning DRM with the Software Product Lifecycle 

This paper discusses how an advanced software DRM solution that aligns with a software product’s lifecycle can influence a software publisher’s organizational processes, drive future sales and reduce operational costs.

Unleashing the Potential of Software DRM 

Due to the many challenges software vendors face today, there is a distinct need to adopt and implement Digital Rights Management that not only helps the vendor to prevent threats posed by piracy and hacking, but also results in increased sales, added revenue and smooth integration of the DRM solution with the existing business processes in the enterprise while helping maintain customer loyalty.

Innovative Approaches to Software Digital Rights Management 

This white paper describes the importance of the development of new approaches to software rights management, empowering business decision makers to choose their preferred hardware- or software-based solution, or a combination of both.

Software Security: Latest Trends In Software Licensing 

This paper discusses the key role software protection plays in helping publishers reap the full benefits of the latest software licensing models. The following licensing models are discussed:
1. Traditional Perpetual Licensing
2. Subscription
3. Rentals
4. Trial Licenses

The HASP HL Envelope: Benefits of Using the HASP HL Automatic Software Protection Tool 

This paper discusses the benefits of the Envelope, an automatic software protection tool provided with HASP HL.

Software Protection: The Need, the Solutions, and the Rewards 

This paper discusses the need for software protection as well as the various solutions and rewards to software developers.

The Power of IP Protection and Licensing in the SOX Era: What Every Senior Executive Should Know 

This white paper discusses the importance of IP as the ultimate asset of every organization. It details the dangers which can be brought about by the leakage of professional know-how, expertise, trade secrets and algorithms. It then discusses the area of IP law, focusing on Sarbanes-Oxley and its impact on Software and System Vendors. The paper continues to examine the benefits of software IP protection and licensing, and details how secure software DRM solutions can help companies meet the requirements of compliance, while at the same time protecting their IP and providing flexible licensing options.