In the practical sense, the point of copy protection is to keep the honest users honest. Those properly motivated will certainly find a way around it. What you probably want is to find the sweet spot between no copy protection and pointless or too strict copy protection.
This will probably vary depending on the popularity of your software and other business concerns. For example if Winzip was to enforce their copy protection, users would just flock to WinRar or other competing applications (some freeware) who don't enforce as strictly. In Windows' case a full internet activation suite is suitable because of how big a target they are for piracy.
For small markets/developers, you'll probably only need an enforced activation key. You move into a question of diminishing returns - how much coding time vs. money you make from more complying users.
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In the practical sense, the point of copy protection is to keep the honest users honest. Those properly motivated will certainly find a way around it. What you probably want is to find the sweet spot between no copy protection and pointless or too strict copy protection.
This will probably vary depending on the popularity of your software and other business concerns. For example if Winzip was to enforce their copy protection, users would just flock to WinRar or other competing applications (some freeware) who don't enforce as strictly. In Windows' case a full internet activation suite is suitable because of how big a target they are for piracy.
For small markets/developers, you'll probably only need an enforced activation key. You move into a question of diminishing returns - how much coding time vs. money you make from more complying users.