> Failing open would make the DRM useless if you could trick the client into thinking the contract was expired.
Depends on the kind of failure.
You could have failure-to-reach-SecuROM fail closed, but you could have publisher-no-longer-has-a-license-with-SecuROM fail open (serverside at SecuROM).
The latter is probably better from SecuROM's standpoint: it makes end-users less likely to avoid SecuROM protected content.
On the other hand, it doesn't make end-users scream at their customers that have failed to renew.
Depends on the kind of failure.
You could have failure-to-reach-SecuROM fail closed, but you could have publisher-no-longer-has-a-license-with-SecuROM fail open (serverside at SecuROM).
The latter is probably better from SecuROM's standpoint: it makes end-users less likely to avoid SecuROM protected content.
On the other hand, it doesn't make end-users scream at their customers that have failed to renew.