systems , methods , apparatuses , and computer program products for partial activation of a license across multiple machines are provided . a user buys a license for multiple seats that he needs to activate on multiple machines for simple management the license is identified by a single activation key that covers all purchased seats . whenever user activates some number of available seats on some computer , licensing system links unique activation information for the specific machine to the license registration record in the licensing database . this additional information is used to track number of used and available seats for the license and it allows to correctly deactivate part of the seats based on the specific computer on which it was activated . licensing records exposed to outer systems are still represented as single item , even though customer may have hundreds of individual installations covered by it .