Les Jones

E-commerce > Copycat Sites Selling Products

Here's a story of a con artist buying a software product, then offering the software for sale on his own Web site, using the registration key he obtained. Slashdot discussion of same.

The software's legitimate owner got the guy to remove the software, but it appears to be for sale elsewhere. This seems to be a case where better technology is needed. It appears that the registration information can be used over and over by many people. A better solution would be to either require communication with a central server using one-time registration keys, or tying the registration key to the IP address of the computer it's installed on.

Both of those solutions present a hassle for legitimate owners. For instance, they'll have to get a new registration key if they move the server to a new IP address. Still, if the software company loses fewer customers because of inconvenience than they do because of piracy, they'll be better off.