Abstract: A method includes a step of providing a computer readable non-transitory storage medium comprising a computer readable code as a software product configured to run on a local computer and configured to perform a software piracy monetization process. The software product includes one or more configurable features having a feature property, the feature property including a state. The method further includes running the computer readable code on the local computer, and collecting, by the software product running on the local computer, hardware fingerprint data from the local computer. The method further includes connecting with a computer feature server, and determining if the software product is legitimate. If not, the method includes a step of sending a message to the local computer. The message includes instructions to change the state of a feature property of the software product to alert a user that the software product is not legitimate.

Abstract: A method includes the steps of: providing a software product configured to run on a local computer and to perform a piracy monetization checksum based process; providing a list of valid checksums for a distribution filename of the software product version; connecting by computer the local computer with a software company server; identifying by computer a unique computer identification of the local computer; following a launch, sending the unique computer identification and a checksum of at least one distribution filename on the local computer to the software company server; comparing at the software company server the checksum to the list of valid checksums; and responsive to the step of comparing on detection of a non-authorized checksum, sending a message from the software company server to the local computer, the message configured to perform a piracy monetization action. A method using checksums and serial numbers is also described.