Delivery of a secure software license for a software product and a toolset for creating the sorftware product

5 The method of claim 1 further includes the steps of:

• (a) assigning a publisher ID to the publisher,
• (b) embedding the publisher ID within the authorization program,
• (c) including the publisher ID within the license, and
• (d) comparing the embedded publisher ID with the publisher ID within the license to verify the publisher of the software program to be authorized has generated the license.

6 The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:

• (a) generating a machine fingerprint within the authorization process,
• (b) incorporating the machine fingerprint within the license request,
• (c) incorporating the machine fingerprint within the license terms, and
• (d) using by the authorization program the machine fingerprint to prevent use of the software product on a different machine than the one which made the license request.

7 A method for deliver of a license-managed toolset for creating a license-managed software product, the method comprising the step of:

• (a) providing an authorization process, the authorization process including the steps of:
• (i) creating a first public and private key pair for a software publisher, and creating a first certificate with the public key using a certificate authority,
• (ii) creating a second public and private key pair for a software program, and creating a second certificate with the software publisher private key.
• (iii) creating an authorization program for the software program, and embedding a copy of the first and second certificates and second private key in the authorization program,
• (iv) combining the authorization program with a software program, such that when the software program is invoked on a computer, the authorization program obtains a license for the software program by:
• (1) creating a formatted license request,
• (2) signing the license request using the second public key,
• (3) transmitting the signed license request to a key authority,
• (4) receiving an signed formatted license from the key authority, wherein the license includes license terms, and
• (5) validating the license using the first certificate, such that the license terms are used to control use of the software program;
• (b) implementing the authorization process in the software toolset that is provided by a toolset publisher, wherein when the authorization process is invoked in the software toolset, the toolset publisher is the publisher in the authorization process and the software toolset is the software program in the authorization process, and
• (c) implementing the authorization process in the software product that is provided by a publisher of the software product using the software toolset, wherein when the authorization process is invoked in the software product, the publisher of the software product is the publisher in the authorization process and the software product is the software program in the authorization process, whereby both the software toolset and the software product use the same authorization process to obtain respective licenses.

11 The method of claim 7 further includes the step of generating the first public and private key pair for the software product publisher during the authorization process for the toolset, using the steps of:

• (a) creating the first public and private key pair for the software publisher prior to using the authorization process for the toolset;
• (b) including the public key within the license request document in the form of a certificate request;
• (c) receiving the certificate within the license document, and
• (d) using the received certificate in conjunction with the private key as the first key pair in the authorization process for the software product.

13 The method of claim 7 further includes the steps of:

• (a) assigning a publisher ID to the publisher,
• (b) including the publisher ID within the publisher certificate, included within the software product license,
• (c) embedding the publisher ID within the authorization program,
• (d) comparing the embedded publisher ID with the publisher ID within the certificate to verify the publisher of the software program to be authorized has generated the license.

14 The method of claim 7 further including the steps of:

• (a) Generating a machine fingerprint within the authorization process,
• (b) incorporating the machine fingerprint within the license request,
• (c) incorporating the machine fingerprint within the license terms, and
• (d) using by the authorization program the machine fingerprint to prevent use of the software product on a different machine than the one which made the license request.