LONDON, UK: Software developers Dotcom Software Solutions Ltd. has released Licence Master, a new anti-piracy module for the open source content management system, DotNetNuke (DNN).

According to a press release, Licence Master is aimed at software developers and vendors that need to protect their web applications from unauthorized use and distribution. The module is installed as an extension to the DotNetNuke platform and will be of particular interest to commercial module developers working within the DNN ecosystem.

Licence Master coordinates and automates the business processes involved in software licence issue and management. It supports flexible licensing policies, and allows manual intervention by licence administrators when required. Integrated with an e-commerce application, it makes a fully automated software sales and licensing process a reality, the release added.

“There is no contradiction between commercial and open source software”, Dotcom director Paul Taylor said.

“The DotNetNuke ecosystem is a thriving example of the synergy that exists between them. Software development is essentially an economic activity. People make their living from it in various ways, and Dotcom is here to help them to do that," added Taylor.

“To produce a software application requires a considerable investment of time and resources. To be able to make that investment, producers need to know that their ability to commercialise their products is protected in a fair way. Copyright law is there to give software developers the right to benefit from their work, just as it does for musicians, authors and film-makers. Licence Master simply provides a mechanism to enforce it," concluded Taylor.