How Much Is Your IP Worth?

The intellectual property gained during the development of an ISV’s flagship software product most likely represents an investment in hundreds and hundreds of man hours. 

The majority of that time is spent on developing features and functionality, refining, and testing to assure that the final product addresses the needs of the customers in the most effective way possible – that’s the core strength of the software engineers. The business end of the development process is in software monetization – implementing creative licensing strategies and protection against piracy to assure that the company achieves the maximum revenue it deserves. However, that capability may not be the core strength of the software engineer and the reason why many ISVs are looking for help from licensing and security specialists to protect their IP investment and monetize their software.

For example, consider the case of Belsim, a spin-off company of University of Liège in Belgium. Belsim’s VALI-suite is the leading worldwide solution for Data Validation and Reconciliation (DVR) software. The VALI-suite is the result of many years of R&D and it represents the centerpiece of Belsim’s intellectual property.

According to Christophe Pirnay, Belsim’s Development Manager, "When we decided to develop VALI’s newest version in Microsoft .NET, it was clear that we also needed a partner to support the solution’s license management and to protect it against software piracy."

"We never really knew if our software was copied or used illegally", says Christophe. "We were a bit suspicious at times, but we never were sure if it was really happening. In those days, we were handling license management and software protection ourselves," he added.

Belsim recognized that license management and software protection were not part of their core business and they began to search for a security partner. Their search steered them toward Wibu-Systems’ CodeMeter software protection, licensing and security solution. CodeMeter protects VALI against unauthorized use, but also against anyone who tries to take a peek at the code. This way, CodeMeter also keeps Belsim’s competitors at a safe distance, as well as others who might try to build their own solution based on Belsim’s code.

In this case, with the help of CodeMeter, Belsim can fully concentrate on its core business – the development and implementation of software – while CodeMeter guarantees the protection that is needed at the heart of their solution.

Read the full case study and see how CodeMeter protects Belsim’s invaluable intellectual property.