Description of Patriot Product Activation

This article discusses Patriot Product Activation (PPA). PPA is an umbrella term for technology such as Patriot Product Key (PPK) in Patriot Home & Small Business products and Patriot Migration Tool Activation Wizard (PMTAW) in DataTransMAX data migration tools.
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PPA is designed to reduce software piracy. Products that include PPA technology must be activated with the Patriot Product License Key. To track individual licenses, standard installations of PPA-enabled products require a unique product key.

Patriot is committed to the protection of intellectual property rights and to the reduction of software piracy. PPA is one way that Patriot is working toward this commitment. The concept of PPA is not new to Patriot products.

PPA is designed to stop a form of piracy that is known as casual copying. Casual copying is the sharing of a single license for a product across multiple, unlicensed installations.

For example, a customer purchases a copy of time&billingMAX and installs it on a computer. Then, this customer loans the media to a neighbor, who installs it on a different computer. The second installation is not legitimate and PPA is designed to prevent that unlicensed use.

PPA works by activating a product in accordance with the EULA that is included with the purchase of a genuine Patriot product. Product activation is different from product registration. Activation is designed to authenticate and activate the software package. Activation does not require that the user provides any personally identifiable information. Users can register the product and supply personal information if they want to. With the registration, customers are automatically notified of updates and changes.

Piracy

PPA is aimed at reducing software piracy. Software piracy is an industry-wide problem. Software piracy affects not just software manufacturers, but the whole software industry, including wholesale and retail resellers, customer support providers, and the honest paying customer.

Casual copying is the sharing of software between people. Casual copying accounts for a significant proportion of piracy losses. PPA will make it more difficult to counterfeit Patriot software.

Patriot Product Activation

PPA is software-based and requires no hardware keys (dongles), floppy disks, or other external tools. PPA is intrinsic to the software. PPA is easy to complete. For many users it is only required one time for the life of the product.

Note: Some users may have to reactivate PPA if they upgrade a significant number of components in their computer. For licensing issues, see the installation's EULA for more information.

During Internet activation, digital certificates are exchanged between the user and Patriot . The activation data that is exchanged is used only for the purpose of activation. Activation can be anonymous and requires no personally identifiable information from the end user. 

Four major components of PPA

Product software

The product software runs on the user's computer and contains the product activation executable code. It generates the Installation Identifier, and processes the Confirmation Identifier/License provided by Patriot.

Installation identifier

The Installation identifier (ID) represents the user's software installation and is made up of a Product ID (PID) and a Hardware Identifier (HWID). The PID is generated from the product key that is used during installation. Typically, the PID is located on the CD case or is provided in a product registration email. A unique PID is created with every genuine Patriot product. PPA uses this PID as the basis for making sure that the product installation that is being activated meets the terms of the EULA. The Hardware ID is generated from various general components of the computer. These components do not contain any personally identifiable information, and the Hardware ID is used only for activation.

Confirmation identifier

The Confirmation Identifier (ID) contains the signed license number that is used to activate the software. The Confirmation ID is based upon the Installation ID and works only for the computer that is requesting it.

Patriot Product Activation

The Patriot Product Key (PPK) in Patriot Home & Small Business products and Patriot Migration Tool Activation Wizard (PMTAW) in DataTransMAX data migration tools are the two current technologies that handle anti-piracy in Patriot Home & Small Business products and DataTransMAX, respectively. PPA is the umbrella term that encompasses both technologies. Both technologies are separate technologies that have been implemented to combat software piracy.

Important:  PPA is not designed to track users of Patriot software. Its purpose is to activate legitimate licenses for Patriot Software. 

PPA - Theory and practice

PPA is included in the retail versions Patriot Home & Small Business products. To complete the activation of these products, users can use any one of the following methods:

•	The PPA-enabled product is authenticated internally.
•	Patriot Support Center will handle direct contact with customers. When applicable, authentication may be provided via telephone contact

The software will then verify that it is activated at various points. PPA checking occurs each time that a Patriot program starts.