Hello Andy.
Free license.key is for customers only (people who purchased our products previously).
With
each purchased product you receive support & maintenance period
during which you receive product updates for free. When this period is
over you stop receiving the updates - the software will work for infinite time but you cannot install the latest version (you have to stay on that specific version the license allows you).
This "free" update means that this specific update will work for anyone even if his support period is expired.
I hope it is now clear and sorry for confusion.