I do as well, but the onus of proof is on the person bringing the charge.

Without that proof, there is nothing to support.

All the best.

LROG

Quote - but here is where I am missing the point a pirate would not be stupid enough to give over an invalid product key unless he was dumb as a turd and obtained it from a pirate lol

Luckily, they will not have to. The pirates, of course, can ask anyone for a valid product key as well. In order for this system to work, the companies surely must relax their policies with the product keys a bit, and at least allow their customers to give it to Tom, Dick and Harry, and - as you said yourself - there is nothing illegal about asking for a product key.

Does not mean this is too absurd to be done, though. The internet is large enough to have room for trying out even the most crazy ideas. Some of them just might work out.

Quote - Please don't let this turn any uglier than it has. I see a locked thread in it's future.

please.. just lock it. it's moved into the realms of squirrel's latrines...

The most inventive copy protection scheme I heard was in the sequel to the game Serious Sam. There are checks within the program that discover whether the game is pirated. If it discovers the game has been pirated, you'll only get so far in the game and you'll face an enemy only seen in the pirated version.... a red, invincible scorpion with two big mounted guns. 

You're not getting past that until you actually buy the game.

So that's a way of rendering a program nonfunctional without affecting users in general.

agree, Khai... locking thread.