Abstract: An integrated circuit includes: one or more protected circuits; a license control circuit configured to request, from a license issuer, a license for activating the one or more protected circuits, the license request having a seed value; and a cryptographic circuit configured to verify the authenticity of a license received from the license issuer based on the seed value, wherein the license control circuit is configured to impose a validity limit on the received license, and to request a new license from the license issuer before the validity limit of the received license.