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What happens if my software developer stops trading?
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Like any company, software developers can go out of business. With most copy protection systems, this can be a major disaster for the customers of the software developer that used the protection system. With CopyMinder it is only a minor problem.
If the software developer goes out of business then their end users are stuck should they need to re-install the protected software. We have learnt from experience of the predecessor to CopyMinder (CopyControl - see below) and have built facilities into CopyMinder that alleviates the problem.
If you are an end user with a CopyMinder protected program from a software developer that has gone out of business then we can usually get your protected program running again. Please carry out the following steps before contacting us:
1. Search the internet to be sure that they have really stopped trading rather than just moved address or stopped supporting a particular product.
2. Contact the regulatory authorities (e.g. Companies House in the UK) to confirm that they have officially stopped trading.
3. Telephone, email and mail them. Companies often arrange forwarding facilities if they move.
4. If all the above proves that they have stopped trading then send details of what you have done and the results to support@copyminder.com. We will try to help you re-install your program or remove protection from it. We may make a small charge for this assistance in some cases. If the software developer still exists but has just decided to stop supporting their product then we cannot help you without their permission.
CopyControl
CopyControl is the predecessor to CopyMinder and has the same problems as most copy protection systems in the event that the software developer goes out of business. There is usually little that we can do to help for the following reasons:
1. We need to be sure that they really have gone out of business.
2. We need to ascertain whether they have transferred their rights to the protected software to another company before they ceased trading.
3. We need to find out if the authorities (Administrator) sold off these rights to another company when the software developer went out of business.
4. In the event that the owner of a small software developer dies, we need to determine whether the rights to the protected software have been transferred to their heirs.
All this is very time consuming and expensive. Having determined that the rights to the software do not belong to anybody, we then have to reproduce the software developer's CopyControl system (which is complex if it is a very old version) and then produce an Activation Code for you.
The whole process can be very time consuming and end up costing you much more than you originally paid for the program.
If the software developer goes out of business then their end users are stuck should they need to re-install the protected software. We have learnt from experience of the predecessor to CopyMinder (CopyControl - see below) and have built facilities into CopyMinder that alleviates the problem.
If you are an end user with a CopyMinder protected program from a software developer that has gone out of business then we can usually get your protected program running again. Please carry out the following steps before contacting us:
1. Search the internet to be sure that they have really stopped trading rather than just moved address or stopped supporting a particular product.
2. Contact the regulatory authorities (e.g. Companies House in the UK) to confirm that they have officially stopped trading.
3. Telephone, email and mail them. Companies often arrange forwarding facilities if they move.
4. If all the above proves that they have stopped trading then send details of what you have done and the results to support@copyminder.com. We will try to help you re-install your program or remove protection from it. We may make a small charge for this assistance in some cases. If the software developer still exists but has just decided to stop supporting their product then we cannot help you without their permission.
CopyControl
CopyControl is the predecessor to CopyMinder and has the same problems as most copy protection systems in the event that the software developer goes out of business. There is usually little that we can do to help for the following reasons:
1. We need to be sure that they really have gone out of business.
2. We need to ascertain whether they have transferred their rights to the protected software to another company before they ceased trading.
3. We need to find out if the authorities (Administrator) sold off these rights to another company when the software developer went out of business.
4. In the event that the owner of a small software developer dies, we need to determine whether the rights to the protected software have been transferred to their heirs.
All this is very time consuming and expensive. Having determined that the rights to the software do not belong to anybody, we then have to reproduce the software developer's CopyControl system (which is complex if it is a very old version) and then produce an Activation Code for you.
The whole process can be very time consuming and end up costing you much more than you originally paid for the program.
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