Apple Files Microsoft-Like DRM System

According to ZDNet, Apple has filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a system like Windows Genuine Advantage that would offer it control over its own software.

 

Microsoft introduced Windows Genuine Advantage to let it remotely validate its OS, with the aim of preventing software copying and pirating.

 

Apple’s "Run-time Code Injection to Perform Checks" would by a digital rights management (DRM) system that would inject code into application running on a user’s computer to check the software was authentic. If fake, it would close the application and render it unusable.  

 

Mac’s OSX isn’t copyright-protected, but has assured the Patent Office that all checks would be transparent and hard to circumvent, with a cryptographic key that would need to be activated prior to a user receiving hardware.

 

Of course, Microsoft hasn’t had the smoothest of rides with Windows Genuine Advantage. Back in August the company loaded the wrong software, leaving12,000 users unable to register their software, while more recently other were wrongly locked out. The company has said that Vista SP1 will address those issues, and while warnings will be issued, the software won’t be disabled.