Pramaan
Get started
Learn

Software licensing, explained.

43 terms everyone selling or buying software runs into, from licence keys and node-locked licences to DRM, forensic watermarking, licence resale and proof of invention. In plain words, with how Pramaan handles each.

Guides

Terms

Licensing basics

Software licence (license)

The permission to use a piece of software, and the terms that come with it: who may use it, on how many computers, and for how long. British English spells the noun licence and American English license; the verb and licensing are the same in both. The licence is a legal promise; licence enforcement is what makes software keep it.

Licence key (license key, product key, serial number)

A code that unlocks paid software. Classic keys are checked by the program itself, which is why they leak: one key posted online works for everyone, and a key generator can mint more. Pramaan replaces the key with a licence sealed to one computer, so there is no shared code to post. See do I still need licence keys?

Licence enforcement

Whatever makes software refuse to run outside its licence. Most enforcement is a check in the program's code (if licensed), which a cracker can patch out. Stronger enforcement makes the licence part of how the program runs at all: with Pramaan the licence is the key that decrypts the protected part of the app, inside the computer's security chip.

Licence management (license manager)

Issuing, tracking, renewing and revoking licences for the people who use your software. A licence manager usually means a server your app phones home to. Pramaan's console does the same work on your own computer, and every licence works offline, with releases and revocations on a public record.

Software activation (online and offline activation)

The step that ties a licence to a computer. Online activation contacts the vendor's server; offline activation exchanges a request and a response file by hand. With Pramaan the licence is sealed to the buyer's computer when it's issued, so there is no activation server to reach and nothing to do when the computer is offline.

Entitlement

What a customer has paid for: which app, which version and for how long. Pramaan keeps each app's entitlements as a set whose fingerprint is published on the chain, so a licence can be checked against it without asking anyone.

Kinds of licence

Perpetual licence

Pay once, use the version you bought forever. On Pramaan Marketplace this is a licence with no end date; a perpetual licence is also the kind that can be resold.

Subscription (term) licence

A licence that runs for a set time, such as a year, and has to be renewed. Pramaan licences can carry an expiry date that is protected against clock tampering, and keep working offline until then.

Trial licence (free trial)

A short licence so a buyer can try the full app before paying. Publishers on Pramaan Marketplace choose the trial length; the trial is sealed to one computer like any other licence, so it can't be restarted by reinstalling.

Node-locked licence (device-locked, hardware-locked)

A licence that works on one particular computer. Usually the lock is a comparison against a hardware ID in the app's code. Pramaan's lock is cryptographic: the licence is sealed to the computer's TPM, so on any other computer there is nothing that can open it. See device-locked licences.

Floating (concurrent) licence

A pool of licences shared across a network, where a licence server hands one out to whoever is using the software. It needs that server running and reachable, which is why floating licences fit offices and not air-gapped sites or field computers.

Named-user licence

A licence for one person rather than one computer, usually checked with a sign-in. It needs an account service online; a node-locked licence needs neither.

Site and volume licences

Many licences sold together to one organisation, often at a discount. With Pramaan each computer still gets its own sealed licence, and the organisation's count lives in the publisher's plan.

Protection and piracy

Copy protection

Any technique that makes unauthorised copies of software useless. Nothing can stop a file from being copied; good copy protection makes the copy not run, and makes it costly to change that. See how to stop people copying your software.

Software piracy

Using or distributing software without a licence. It ranges from sharing one key with a friend to cracked copies on download sites. The practical defence is to make copies worthless (sealed licences) and leaks traceable (fingerprinting).

Cracking

Changing a program so it skips its licence check. It works when the check is a few instructions in code that runs anyway. Pramaan has no such check to remove: without the sealed licence, the protected part of the app stays encrypted.

Key generator (keygen)

A tool that produces valid-looking licence keys, made by working out how a program checks them. It needs a key scheme to imitate; licences sealed to one computer's chip have none.

DRM (digital rights management)

Technology that controls how digital content is used after it's sold. Much DRM needs a constant internet connection to a vendor's server, which users dislike and offline sites can't allow. Pramaan is DRM that works without any server: each copy carries its own proof.

Hardware ID (HWID, machine fingerprint)

An identifier built from a computer's parts, such as its disk or network card serial numbers, used to tie a licence to it. It breaks when parts change and can be faked. Pramaan uses a key held inside the computer's TPM instead, which can't be copied out.

Dongle (USB hardware key)

A USB device that must be plugged in for software to run. It works offline but costs money per customer, gets lost, and has to be shipped. A computer's built-in TPM does the same job with nothing to post.

Licence server

A server an app checks with to confirm its licence. If the server is down, blocked or shut, the software stops working. Pramaan has no licence server: licensing works fully offline.

TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and security chips

A security chip built into most modern computers (TPM 2.0 is required by Windows 11). It holds keys that can be used but never read out. Pramaan seals each licence to the buyer's TPM, so only that computer can open it.

Android Keystore and StrongBox

The part of an Android phone that holds keys apps can use but never read: in a separate secure chip (StrongBox) on phones that have one, otherwise in the processor's trusted environment (TEE). Pramaan seals an Android app's licence to a key made there, on Android 12 or later, so the app opens on that phone and no other. See phone apps.

Secure Enclave (iPhone and iPad)

Apple's security processor inside every recent iPhone, iPad and Mac. Its keys can be used but never read out. Pramaan seals an iPhone or iPad app's licence to a Secure Enclave key, so a copy on another device has nothing that can open it.

Code encryption and obfuscation

Obfuscation makes code hard to read; encryption makes it unreadable without a key. Obfuscation slows a cracker down, encryption with a key held in hardware stops one. Pramaan encrypts the parts of an app you choose and keeps the key in the buyer's chip.

Air-gapped and offline computers

Computers kept off the internet on purpose: in defence, factories, hospitals and labs. Software for them can't phone home to check a licence, so it needs licensing that works with no connection at all. See where Pramaan is used.

Clock tampering (rollback)

Setting a computer's clock back so an expired licence or trial looks current. Pramaan's licences keep their own record of time and refuse a clock that has moved backwards.

Leaks and tracing

Software leak

A copy of paid software, or its content, shared without permission, often by a customer. Pramaan can't stop someone sharing what they can see, but it can tell you whose copy it was.

Forensic watermarking (digital fingerprinting)

A hidden, unique mark in each customer's copy, invisible in normal use, that survives copying. When a copy turns up somewhere it shouldn't, the mark names the licence it came from. Pramaan marks text, images and compiled programs; see how to find who leaked a copy.

Traitor tracing (canary trap)

Giving each recipient a slightly different copy so a leak identifies its source. Forensic watermarking is traitor tracing done by software, for every copy, automatically.

Selling and resale

Software marketplace (app store)

A shop where many publishers sell their software. Pramaan Marketplace sells apps licensed to the buyer's own computer, reviewed by Pramaan, with free trials and every release on the public record.

Licence resale (used software, second-hand licences)

Selling a licence you no longer need to someone else. In the European Union, the Court of Justice held in UsedSoft v Oracle (2012) that the first sale of a perpetual licence for downloaded software exhausts the right to control its resale, provided the seller's own copy is made unusable. Pramaan does exactly that: the licence moves to the buyer's computer and stops working on the seller's. See licence resale.

Escrow

Money held by a neutral party until both sides have done their part. In Pramaan's resale, the buyer's payment waits in a smart contract until the licence opens on the buyer's computer, then goes to the seller, less the publisher's royalty and Pramaan's 2%.

Resale royalty

The share of every resale that goes to the original publisher: 8% on Pramaan unless the publisher chooses another rate, from 0 to 30%. Publishers can also turn resale off for an app.

Stablecoin payments (USDC, USDT)

Digital dollars that keep a steady value, paid directly between wallets. Pramaan Marketplace takes USDC, USDT, ETH and BTC, so a publisher is paid in the same moment the buyer pays, with no card processor in between.

Proof of invention

Proof of invention

Evidence of what you invented and when, made before anyone could dispute it. Pramaan's notebooks record each step of your work privately and date-stamp it on a public chain, so you can later show it existed without having shown anyone. See how to prove your idea came first.

Prior art

Anything public before a patent was filed that shows the idea wasn't new. Published prior art can stop someone else patenting your idea.

Defensive publication

Publishing an invention on purpose so nobody can patent it, while keeping your freedom to use it. Pramaan's Studio plan and above publish a notebook as dated, checkable prior art.

Trusted timestamping

Proving a document existed at a certain time by recording its fingerprint (hash) with a party, or a chain, that can't backdate it. A public blockchain makes the timestamp checkable by anyone.

Hash (SHA-256)

A short fingerprint of a file: change one byte and it changes completely, and it can't be turned back into the file. Pramaan publishes hashes, never your files.

Digital signature (Ed25519)

Proof that a file came from the holder of a key and hasn't changed since. Every Pramaan release and licence is signed with Ed25519, so anyone can check who issued it.

The public record

Public blockchain record

A shared ledger anyone can read and nobody can rewrite. Pramaan records releases, revocations, sales and proof-of-invention timestamps there, so they can be checked without trusting Pramaan. See why a blockchain.

Smart contract

A program on a blockchain that holds money and follows fixed rules. Pramaan Marketplace's sales, resale escrow and payouts are smart contracts, so nobody, Pramaan included, can take a payment that isn't due.

Want to see it working? Follow the pictures, or start free.