Thanks for the comments. 
Just copying the data file won't work since the date of authorization is also included. The next day, it would fail.

The application is magically wonderful and I am more concerned about resellers selling additional users than I am users trying to steal additional copies.

A good tech solution that would immediately and accurately tell how many copies of a particular application are running, is still elusive. 

How abut a unix or applescrpt that works in OS X to reveal this info?

Bruce Moore