Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

@article{180426,
        author = {Amit and Anuj Mishra and Ankit Soni and Aman Chouhan},
        title = {Software Piracy Protection System : Preventing Unauthorized Use with Unique License Key Authentication},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {1},
        pages = {1962-1966},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=180426},
        abstract = {Software piracy remains a significant 
challenge, affecting the profitability and integrity of the 
software industry. Unauthorized duplication and 
distribution of software lead to financial losses and 
security vulnerabilities for both developers and users. 
The  software industry  faces  a  serious  problem  with  
software  piracy. This paper will  show  how  a "software  
piracy  protection system"  serves  primarily  to  prevent 
system  piracy. This research presents a Software Piracy 
Protection System (SPPS) that prevents illegal usage 
through unique license key-based authentication. The 
system binds each software installation to the user's 
MAC address, ensuring that the license key is valid only 
for a single authorized device. The  purpose of this study  
is  to  examine the value  of  software piracy prevention 
and the application of unique license key creation and 
verification as a means  of resolving this problem. The 
proposed method integrates cryptographic hash 
functions, encryption algorithms, and a secure server
side verification process to enhance software security. 
The system operates with an authentication model that 
detects unauthorized key duplication and prevents 
offline misuse by validating the user’s hardware 
identity upon every startup. Experimental results 
demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach in 
mitigating software piracy risks, ensuring compliance, 
and strengthening digital asset protection. Future 
improvements, such as AI-driven piracy detection and 
blockchain-based 
authentication, 
enhance the security framework.},
        keywords = {Anti-Piracy Measures, Cryptographic  Security, License Key Authentication, MAC-Based  Registration, Privacy, Software Piracy.},
        month = {June},
        }