Patent Publication Number: US-2005132233-A1

Title: Digital rights framework

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
      The present invention relates to the electronic transfer of information, particularly intellectual property, over computer system networks. More specifically, the present invention pertains to the control and regulation of the distribution of intellectual properties over the Internet.  
     BACKGROUND ART  
      Intellectual property can be considered in terms of either its “embodiments” or its “representations.” Generally, an embodiment of an intellectual property is the property itself, while a representation of the intellectual property can be data or meta-data either describing or pointing to the property.  
      For example, intellectual properties such as real-time human communications, stored and forwarded messages, documents or collections, dynamic or persistent data structures and databases, interpretable scripts, source code, and partially or fully compiled programs and applications, as well as other intellectual properties generally referred to as “content,” are often described as an embodiment of the intellectual property. Embodiments of intellectual property can also be theoretical or abstract concepts which are exemplified, documented or reified as a specific form of content.  
      Legal rights, contracts, agreements or other assertions can be embodied in the form of content, but are not the embodiment of the intellectual property itself. Instead, these are considered representations of the intellectual property. Some intellectual properties, such as a deed or title to a home, can be representations of physical or real properties.  
      Intellectual properties are becoming more and more central to the world economy. In an information economy, discrete or aggregate values are placed on intellectual properties, and the markets for general or specific applications of these properties are huge. For example, the software industry, which has embodiments of intellectual properties in software products and services, and representations of property rights in licenses, legal contracts and agreements, copyrights, trademarks and patents, currently has annual sales rates of over $135 billion per year.  
      Increasingly, the Internet (or World Wide Web) is the medium of transmission of intellectual properties such as software products and the like. The Internet uses the Internet Protocol to frame, route, and reassemble digital messages. The transaction of intellectual property is a general transfer of data and data communications over the Internet; intellectual property such as software is simply treated as a bit stream in Internet Protocol. On top of the Internet Protocol are specialized transport layer services, such as HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) or SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). Within these, many messages are encoded in markup languages such as XML (Extensible Markup Language), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) meta-markup language based on SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language).  
      With regard to the protection of intellectual property, the prior art takes a defensive posture that is focused on guarding the intellectual property against unauthorized access, duplication and use. Limitations are placed on the use and distribution of a piece of intellectual property, and various means are used to attempt to enforce these limitations. Oftentimes, the limitations can be easily circumvented, and so enforcement can be difficult and therefore is mostly ineffective.  
      In addition, while in some cases the prior art may take advantage of the Internet for delivery of intellectual property such as software, the prior art is still encumbered by more traditional mechanisms for conducting the legal and commercial aspects of intellectual property transactions. For example, purchase orders, terms and conditions, license agreements and the like must be negotiated, written, reviewed and approved. These more traditional mechanisms can cause delay in the delivery and use of the intellectual property by a purchaser or licensee, and delay in the receipt of payments or royalties due to a seller or licensor.  
      What is needed is a method and system thereof for controlling the identification, negotiation, establishment, and transaction of intellectual properties (embodiments and representations) over the Internet (e.g., an “IP over IP framework”). What is also needed is a method and/or system that can satisfy the above need and can model and assert information regarding the rights, responsibilities and other terms of use of intellectual property within the IP over IP framework. What is further needed is a method and/or system that can satisfy the above needs, and can allow interrogation of that information and can respond to those interrogations. In addition, what is needed is a method and/or system that can satisfy the above needs and can allow for storage and transport of the information regarding the rights, responsibilities and other terms of use of intellectual property. The present invention provides a novel solution to the above needs.  
      These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are illustrated in the various drawing figures.  
     DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention provides a method and system for controlling the identification, negotiation, establishment, and transaction of intellectual properties (embodiments and representations) over the Internet (e.g., an “IP over IP framework”). The present invention also provides a method and system for modeling and asserting information regarding the rights, responsibilities and other terms of use of intellectual property within the IP over IP framework. The present invention also provides a method and system that allow interrogation of that information and that respond to those interrogations. The present invention further provides a method and system that allow for storage and transport of the information regarding the rights, responsibilities and other terms of use of intellectual property.  
      The present embodiment of the present invention provides a method and system thereof for establishing legal rights and limitations regarding the use of electronically distributed intellectual property (e.g., a “digital rights framework”). The digital rights framework provides a method and system for processing information encoded in a standardized and extensible format for modeling and representing the legal rights, limitations and responsibilities for intellectual properties distributed, for example, over the World Wide Web using Internet Protocol.  
      In the present embodiment, the intellectual property is modeled and offered for different types of distribution (e.g., for sale, rent, etc.). In response to a request for access to and use of the intellectual property, the legal rights and limitations associated with the type of distribution requested are provided. An agreement to these legal rights and limitations is reached and executed, and stored for subsequent reference and use.  
      In the present embodiment of the present invention, for each intellectual property, the legal rights and limitations associated with each particular type of distribution (e.g., sale, rent, etc.) are stored. Information identifying an individual or party with a legal interest in the intellectual property is also stored. The relationships of the individual or party to the intellectual property, to each other, and to the legal rights and limitations are established. In one embodiment, a hypertext reference can be used to invoke the legal rights and limitations associated with the type of distribution.  
      In one embodiment, proposed terms and conditions for the distribution are compared to a standard set of terms and conditions, and any deviations are identified. The deviations can then be reviewed by, for example, a human user.  
      In one embodiment, the intellectual property is modeled and codified using XML (Extensible Markup Language).  
      The present invention thus provides a method and system thereof for declaring rights to an intellectual property and for granting those rights to a purchaser or licensee, in order to more effectively protect the property rights of the intellectual property owner.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention:  
       FIG. 1A  is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system upon which embodiments of the present invention may be practiced.  
       FIG. 1B  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary client-server computer system network upon which embodiments of the present invention may be practiced.  
       FIG. 2  shows the framework of an intellectual property management system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is diagram exemplifying an interface between Internet sites in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the steps in a process for establishing legal rights and limitations for using electronically distributed intellectual property in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart of the steps in a process for executing a transaction of intellectual property in accordance--with one embodiment of the present invention.  
    
    
     BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION  
      Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.  
      Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented in terms of procedures, logic blocks, processing, and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. In the present application, a procedure, logic block, process, or the like, is conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, although not necessarily these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a computer system. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as transactions, bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, fragments, pixels, or the like.  
      It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present invention, discussions utilizing terms such as “storing,” “offering,” “receiving,” “providing,” “establishing,” “specifying,” “using,” “identifying,” “describing” or the like, refer to actions and processes (e.g., processes  400  and  500  of  FIGS. 4 and 5 , respectively) of a computer system or similar electronic computing device. The computer system or similar electronic computing device manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. The present invention is well suited to the use of other computer systems.  
      Refer now to  FIG. 1A  which illustrates an exemplary computer system  190  upon which embodiments of the present invention may be practiced. In general, computer system  190  comprises bus  100  for communicating information, processor  101  coupled with bus  100  for processing information and instructions, random access (volatile) memory  102  coupled with bus  100  for storing information and instructions for processor  101 , read-only (non-volatile) memory  103  coupled with bus  100  for storing static information and instructions for processor  101 , data storage device  104  such as a magnetic or optical disk and disk drive coupled with bus  100  for storing information and instructions, an optional user output device such as display device  105  coupled to bus  100  for displaying information to the computer user, an optional user input device such as alphanumeric input device  106  including alphanumeric and function keys coupled to bus  100  for communicating information and command selections to processor  101 , and an optional user input device such as cursor control device  107  coupled to bus  100  for communicating user input information and command selections to processor  101 . Furthermore, a network interface card (NIC)  108  is used to couple computer system  190  onto, for example, a client-server computer system network. In such a network, computer system  190  can exemplify a client computer system and/or a server computer system.  
      Display device  105  utilized with computer system  190  may be a liquid crystal device, cathode ray tube, or other display device suitable for creating graphic images and alphanumeric characters recognizable to the user. Cursor control device  107  allows the computer user to dynamically signal the two-dimensional movement of a visible symbol (pointer) on a display screen of display device  105 . Many implementations of the cursor control device are known in the art including a trackball, mouse, joystick or special keys on alphanumeric input device  106  capable of signaling movement of a given direction or manner of displacement. It is to be appreciated that the cursor control  107  also may be directed and/or activated via input from the keyboard using special keys and key sequence commands. Alternatively, the cursor may be directed and/or activated via input from a number of specially adapted cursor directing devices.  
       FIG. 1B  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary client-server computer system network  170  (“network  170 ”) upon which embodiments of the present invention may be practiced. Network  170  may be a communication network located within a firewall of an organization or corporation (an “Intranet”), or network  170  may represent a portion of the World Wide Web or Internet. Client (or user) computer systems  190   a  and  190   b  and server computer system  190   c  are communicatively coupled via communication lines  173   a  and  173   b ; the mechanisms for coupling computer systems over the Internet or over Intranets are well-known in the art. This coupling can be accomplished over any network protocol that supports a network connection, such as Internet Protocol, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), NetBIOS, IPX (Internet Packet Exchange), and LU6.2, and link layers protocols such as Ethernet, token ring, and ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode). Alternatively, client computer systems  190   a  and  190   b  can be coupled to server computer system  190   c  via an input/output port (e.g., a serial port) of server computer system  190   c ; that is, client computer systems  190   a  and  190   b  and server computer system  190   c  may be non-networked devices. It is appreciated that, for simplicity, only two client computer systems and a single server computer system are shown; however, it is understood that network  170  may comprise any number of client computer systems and server computer systems.  
       FIG. 2  shows the framework of an intellectual property management system  200  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Intellectual property management system  200  can be implemented over the Internet (e.g., World Wide Web), over an Intranet, or using non-networked devices that are communicatively linked. Intellectual property management system  200  provides a system and method thereof for controlling the identification, negotiation, establishment, and transaction of intellectual properties (embodiments and representations) over the Internet. Additional information is provided in the copending patent application filed concurrently herewith, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, entitled “Intellectual Property Over Internet Protocol Framework,” by Peter Corless, Attorney Docket Number CSCO-54761 with Ser. No. ______, hereby incorporated by reference. The reference application provides the framework, referred to as the “IP over IP” framework, for facilitating the legal and commercial aspects of intellectual property transactions.  
      Intellectual property  202  can be either a representation or an embodiment of an intellectual property. In accordance with the present embodiment of the present invention, intellectual property  202  is assigned a unique digital identifier (DID)  205 , which serves as a Uniform Resource Identifier (e.g., URIa  255 ) that points to intellectual property  202 .  
      An electronic link or hyperlink is enabled between DID  205  and other intellectual property elements in order to establish the terms and conditions for accessing, using and distributing intellectual property  202 . In one embodiment, different URIs (exemplified by URIb  245 ) may be used to point to these other intellectual property elements.  
      Digital feature format (DFF)  220  is an intellectual property element for describing the features of intellectual property  202 . Digital feature request (DFR)  225  describes a query made with regard to these features. DFR  225  can also describe a request to add or remove a feature of intellectual property  202 . Digital feature description (DFD)  226  describes the actual product features in response to the query, or modified features in response to a request for a change in features.  
      Digital license agreement (DLA)  230  is an intellectual property element describing a licensing agreement for intellectual property  202 . Digital license request (DLR)  235  describes a request made for a digital license, and DLA(e)  236  describes the actual digital license agreement made between the intellectual property owner and a licensee.  
      In the present embodiment, digital rights framework (DRF)  210  is an intellectual property element for describing the rights granted by the intellectual property owner with regard to intellectual property  202 . Digital rights request (DRR)  215  describes a request made to the owner for access to intellectual property  202  and for other rights associated with the property. Digital rights grant (DRG)  216  describes the rights granted by the owner of intellectual property  202 . DRF  210  allows for the modeling, assertion, interrogation and response, storage and transport of information regarding the rights, limitation of rights, responsibilities and other terms and conditions of use or service for intellectual properties (embodiments or representations).  
      In accordance with the present embodiment of the present invention, DRF  210  includes a standard and extensible model, and systems and processes to create, store, query and maintain models of intellectual properties (or representations). DRF  210  also includes, but is not limited to, the declaration or assertion of names and identifiers of the property, and specific rights and attributes, such as copyright, trademark, patent, privacy, secrecy, and confidentiality statements.  
      In the present embodiment, DRF  210  also includes a standard and extensible model, and systems and processes to create, store, query and maintain models to associate governmental or private or public legal and territorial rights and responsibilities for internal and extra-jurisdictional controls such as import or export restrictions, registration, taxation, or duties requirements.  
      In the present embodiment, DRF  210  also includes a standard and extensible model, and systems and processes to create, store, query and maintain models of rights and assertions of rights and to enable transactions for intellectual properties or representations based on accepted legal frameworks and protocols. This includes representation and embodiment of various commercial and non-commercial statutes and dispositions of intellectual property, and transactions to request and change statuses and dispositions. Such models can include rights of creation and initial assertion of rights, assignments and transfers, licensing, terms of commercial sale and contract, terms of service and use, warranties, and various other status and transactional declarations. The present invention shall be extensible to cover and uphold any forms of U.S. and international intellectual property law, including but not limited to copyright, trademark, patent or trade secret transactions. It shall also strive to comply, where possible, with key laws covering computer information exchanges, such as the  Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act  of 1999 (approved and recommended by the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws).  
      In the present embodiment, DRF  210  further includes a standard and extensible model, and systems and processes to create, store, query and maintain models of legally interested parties in an intellectual property or representation, including creators, owners, beneficiaries, fiducially interested parties, agents, users, licensees, sellers and resellers, purchasers or buyers, regulating or administrative bodies, offices or jurisdictions such as governments, consortia, or business entities, private or public certifiers, and so on.  
      Continuing with reference to  FIG. 2 , in the present embodiment, DRF  210  also includes a standard and extensible method to create relationships of one or more parties involved in an intellectual property, and to make a declaration or assertion of specific interest or relationship in an intellectual property or representation, based on: a) the model of the property; b) the model of rights associated with the property; c) the model of the parties; and d) the model of the terms of the agreement between the parties.  
      In the present embodiment, DRF  210  also includes a model of explicit or implicit commercial or non-commercial offers of intellectual property rights distribution, transfer or assignment, such as via sale, rent, lease, contract, warranty, evaluation, grant, gift, award, license and so on. For a modeled property (or class of properties), an explicit offer model can be stored for future query and transaction. For example, a product or service might be available for sale, lease or rent, and for each of these, the associated list of applicable rights can be invoked through relationships via hypertext references.  
      The present embodiment of DRF  210  also includes methods to test assertions and declarations and hold them as valid. This includes the checking of the formation, encoding and encapsulation of the representation and embodiment of a digital rights framework message sent over a TCP/IP network (e.g., network  170  of  FIG. 1B ), as well as a semiotic analysis of the semantic, schematic, and syntactic content of the message against related models, examples, and algorithms.  
      For each application of this framework, different pragmatic purposes of the content and applications which process such statements can be declared or intuitively understood. For example, a copyright holder would wish to make a DRF statement to assert their explicit ownership of a work of art. Another system, compliant to DRF  210 , might analyze and store copyright statements of various DRF declarations, parse them, and sort them for each search and referral by those searching for copyrights held by a particular entity. This same expression could be used to file the copyright with a governmental body over the Internet, and to mark the work of art itself. Different elements of the same DRF declaration may therefore have very different pragmatic and useful purposes.  
      Continuing with reference to  FIG. 2 , in the present embodiment, DRF  210  further includes methods to state what a specific right entitles a party to do with the intellectual property, or what obligations they are under through the specific rights grant. Such entitlements might include rights to transfer, share or assign the right to others, entitlement scope in temporal or territorial terms, rights to use, alter, destroy, incorporate in other properties, rights to hold, distribute, store or return, and so on.  
      In the present embodiment, DRF  210  also includes a method to relate all models of digital rights elements and attributes (e.g., properties, parties, terms and conditions, rights and agreements) with all directly-related specific instantiations of the intellectual property; for instance, the ability to link a model of a property&#39;s elements to all properties which include those elements.  
      In the present embodiment, DRF  210  includes methods to make representations and embodiments of rights requests and responses (e.g., DRR  215 ), and declaration or assertions of rights grants (e.g., DRG  216 ). This includes systems to create, process, store and transport requests and responses for intellectual property rights.  
      In the present embodiment, DRF  210  is implemented using a standard and extensible method of encoding, encapsulating, storing and transporting models using Internet Protocol, or using computerized methods which provide a gateway to or from the Internet Protocol. The models, intellectual property (embodiments and representations), and control messages are represented in XML, or in systems of encoding or markup using various mechanisms (e.g., application program interfaces) which can be converted into or from XML.  
      In the present embodiment, DRF  210  can also include computerized controls and systems which interpret and operate based on the content of digital rights framework or digital rights request messages. For example, an Internet firewall might receive a message which is a request to open a port based upon the assertion of the purchase of a “right of way” embodied in a digital rights framework message. After the validity of the message is checked and confirmed, access controls for the Internet firewall might be changed to allow the requesting party to pass through.  
       FIG. 3  is diagram exemplifying the interface between World Wide Web (“Web”) site  310  and electronic commerce (“e-commerce”) site  320  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. It is appreciated that, in a similar manner, this interface can occur over an Intranet or using non-networked devices that are communicatively linked.  
      In the present embodiment, Web site  310  includes content (e.g., intellectual property  202  of  FIG. 2 ) that is available for sale, license, rent, etc. In one embodiment, Web site  310  and its content (including intellectual property  202 ) are codified using XML (Extensible Markup Language). In one embodiment, the features of intellectual property  202  are described by DFD  226  ( FIG. 2 ).  
      Continuing with reference to  FIG. 3 , in the present embodiment, e-commerce site  320  is communicatively coupled to Web site  310  according to Internet Protocol. The content of e-commerce site  320  includes various intellectual properties for sale, rent, etc., each property perhaps described by text or accompanied by its picture. In one embodiment, e-commerce site  320  and its content are codified using XML.  
      In accordance with the present embodiment of the present invention, with reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the interface between Web site  310  and e-commerce site  320  is accomplished using intellectual property management system  200 . As described above, in one embodiment, the content of Web site  310  is described by an intellectual property element such as DFF  220  (specifically, DFD  226 ). The owner of the content of Web site  310  grants rights and spells out limitations to the seller or licensee responsible for e-commerce site  320 . In one embodiment, the rights and limitations associated with intellectual property  202  are described by an intellectual property element such as DRF  210  (specifically, DRG  216 ). In one embodiment, these rights and limitations are instead provided by a license described by an intellectual property element such as DLA  230  (specifically, DLA(e)  236 ).  
      Provided below is an example of a digital license request (e.g., DLR  235 ) codified in XML in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
                                  &lt;LICENSEREQUESTS&gt;       &lt;DLR Type=“StandardLicense”&gt;                         &lt;Authorization Type=“PSE” TimeIssued=“DD-MMM-YYYY”&gt;                         &lt;PSE&gt;                         &lt;SalesOrder SalesOrderNumber=“NNNNNNN” SalesOrderDate=“DD-MMM-YYYY”/&gt;           &lt;PurchaseOrder PurchaseOrderNumber=“AAAAA” PurchaseOrderDate=“DD-MMM-YYYY”/&gt;           &lt;DLA Type=“EULA”/&gt;           &lt;Order Type=“Standard-NL”/&gt;                         &lt;/PSE&gt;                         &lt;/Authorization&gt;           &lt;RequestingSystem&gt;                         &lt;HostName&gt;[Host Name]&lt;/HostName&gt;           &lt;ServerName&gt;[Server Name]&lt;/ServerName&gt;           &lt;Location&gt;[Location]&lt;/Location&gt;                         &lt;/RequestingSystem&gt;           &lt;RequestingUser&gt;                         &lt;OrganizationName&gt;ERP&lt;/OrganizationName&gt;           &lt;UserName&gt;[User Name]&lt;/UserName&gt;           &lt;ContactEmailAddress&gt;[Address]&lt;/ContactEmailAddress&gt;                         &lt;/RequestingUser&gt;           &lt;Product SubGroup=“SCAN-PAK”&gt;                         &lt;LineId&gt;nnnnnnn&lt;/LineId&gt;           &lt;LineNumber&gt;1&lt;/LineNumber&gt;           &lt;InventoryItemId&gt;mmmmmmm&lt;/InventoryItemId&gt;           &lt;ProductName&gt;SW-WC1.0&lt;/ProductName&gt;           &lt;ProductDescription&gt;WebClient user license (initial minimum order)&lt;/ProductDescription&gt;           &lt;OrderedQuantity&gt;1&lt;/OrderedQuantity&gt;           &lt;Licensee&gt;                         &lt;SiteContact/&gt;           &lt;OrganizationName&gt;[Name]&lt;/OrganizationName&gt;           &lt;Address&gt;                         &lt;StreetAddress&gt;             &lt;Line&gt;           &lt;/StreetAddress&gt;           &lt;City/&gt;           &lt;State/&gt;           &lt;Province/&gt;           &lt;Zip/&gt;           &lt;Country/&gt;                         &lt;/Address&gt;                         &lt;/Licensee&gt;           &lt;Intermediary&gt;                         &lt;SiteContact&gt;[Name]&lt;/SiteContact&gt;           &lt;OrganizationName&gt;[Name]&lt;/OrganizationName&gt;           &lt;Address&gt;                         &lt;StreetAddress&gt;             &lt;Line&gt;           &lt;/StreetAddress&gt;           &lt;City/&gt;           &lt;State/&gt;           &lt;Province/&gt;           &lt;Zip/&gt;           &lt;Country/&gt;                         &lt;/Address&gt;                         &lt;/Intermediary&gt;           &lt;LicenseRequested&gt;                         &lt;PakParams/&gt;           &lt;NumberOfLicenses&gt;500&lt;/NumberOfLicenses&gt;           &lt;LicenseParams/&gt;           &lt;HostOS/&gt;           &lt;HostName&gt;[Name]&lt;/HostName&gt;           &lt;HostId&gt;nmnmnmn&lt;/HostId&gt;           &lt;Pak/&gt;                         &lt;/LicenseRequested&gt;           &lt;LicenseDispatch&gt;                         &lt;EmailAddress&gt;[Address]&lt;/EmailAddress&gt;           &lt;OutboundDir/&gt;                         &lt;/LicenseDispatch&gt;                         &lt;/Product&gt;                 &lt;/DLR&gt;       &lt;/LICENSEREQUESTS&gt;                  
 
      Provided below is an example of a digital license agreement (e.g., DLA(e)  236 ) codified in XML in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
                                  &lt;DLA version=“1.0”&gt;                         &lt;License Type=“[EULA|ILA]”                         Description=“[End User License Agreement|Intermediary License Agreement]”           DLANumber=“[DLANumber]”&gt;                         &lt;Authorization Type=“PSE” Description=“Product Sales Entitlement” TimeIssued=“DD-MMM-YYYY”&gt;                         &lt;PSE&gt;                         &lt;SalesOrder SONumber=“”SODate=“”/&gt;           &lt;PurchaseOrder PONumber=“”PODate+“”/&gt;           &lt;Order Type=“[Resale|Internal]”/&gt;                         &lt;/PSE&gt;                         &lt;/Authorization&gt;           &lt;Agreement&gt;                         &lt;Licensor&gt;           &lt;/Licensor&gt;           &lt;Intermediary&gt;           &lt;/Intermediary&gt;           &lt;Licensee&gt;           &lt;/Licensee&gt;                         &lt;/Agreement&gt;           &lt;TermsAndConditions&gt;                         &lt;LicensePeriod Type=“[Perpetual|Limited]”&gt;                         &lt;StartDate&gt;[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM-GGGG]&lt;/StartDate&gt;           &lt;TerminalDate&gt;[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM-GGGG]&lt;/TerminalDate&gt;                         &lt;/LicensePeriod&gt;                         &lt;/TermsAndConditions&gt;           &lt;ProductList&gt;                         &lt;Product ProductLineNo=“”ProductName=“”ProductDesc=“”ProductQty=“”ProductLicenseID=“”&gt;           &lt;/Product&gt;           &lt;Product ProductLineNo=“”ProductName=“”ProductDesc=“”ProductQty=“”ProductLicenseID=“”&gt;                         &lt;ProductOrderAttributes&gt;                             &lt;PakParams&gt;   &lt;/PakParams&gt;                         &lt;LicenseBlocks&gt;[CSV numerical values]&lt;/LicenseBlocks&gt;                             &lt;LicenseParams&gt;   &lt;/LicenseParams&gt;           &lt;HostOS&gt;   &lt;/HostOS&gt;           &lt;HostName&gt;   &lt;/HostName&gt;           &lt;HostID&gt;   &lt;/HostID&gt;           &lt;ChassisID&gt;   &lt;/ChassisID&gt;           &lt;Pak&gt;   &lt;/Pak&gt;                         &lt;/ProductOrderAttributes&gt;                         &lt;/Product&gt;                         &lt;/ProductList&gt;           &lt;LicenseKeyList&gt;                         &lt;LicenseKey ProductLicenseID=“”&gt;           &lt;LicenseKeyDescription&gt;[License Key Description&lt;/LicenseKeyDescription&gt;           &lt;LicenseKeyValue&gt;[License Key Value]&lt;/LicenseKeyValue&gt;           &lt;LicenseKeyHref=“[URI]”&gt;[Description of URI]&lt;/LicenseKeyHref&gt;                         &lt;/LicenseKeyList&gt;           &lt;InstallationInstructions ProductLicenseID=“”&gt;                         &lt;TextInstructionBlock&gt;           &lt;/TextInstructionBlock&gt;                         &lt;/InstallationInstructions&gt;                         &lt;/License&gt;                 &lt;/DLA&gt;                  
 
      Regarding the example DLA codified above, the authorization key may be a public key, a digital certificate, or some other form of authentication. The “PSE” (Product Sales Entitlement) block represents the digital rights grant (e.g., DRG  216  of  FIG. 2 ). The “intermediary” block is used in cases of an Intermediary License Agreement or a channel-delivered EULA (End User License Agreement). In the “terms and conditions” block, legal terms of the agreement are included and can be an ASCII text block, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) or XML formatted text, or an external reference via URI to other local or remote documents. The terms and conditions are included for the elements listed in the “product list” block. The product list can be reiterated from the DLR. The products can include a list of character-data license key values, an internal pointer or reference to key data held elsewhere, or an external pointer to an associated file which contains license-related data. The “product license ID” attribute is a local file reference to the “license key” element.  
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the steps in a process  400  for establishing legal rights and limitations for using electronically distributed intellectual property in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with the present embodiment of the present invention, process  400  embodies DRF  210  of  FIG. 2 . Process  400  can be implemented via computer-readable program instructions stored in a memory unit (e.g., random access memory  102 , read-only memory  103 , and/or data storage device  104 ) and executed by processor  101  of computer system  190  ( FIG. 1A ). In one embodiment, process  400  is implemented via a client-server computer system network (e.g., network  170  of  FIG. 1B ). In the present embodiment, process  400  (e.g., the digital rights framework) is implemented using XML, or using a system of encoding or markup which can be converted into or converted from XML.  
      In step  410  of  FIG. 4 , a model of an intellectual property (or a representation of the property) is created and stored. In the present embodiment, the model includes (but is not limited to) the declaration or assertion of a name or an identifier for the property, and attributes of the property such as copyright, trademark, patent, privacy, secrecy and confidentiality statements. Associated with the intellectual property (e.g., by hypertext reference) are governmental or private or public legal and territorial rights and responsibilities for internal and extra-jurisdictional controls such as import or export restrictions, registration, taxation or duties requirements, etc. Also associated with the intellectual property (e.g., by hypertext reference) are rights and assertion of rights, and also including assignments and transfers, licensing, terms of commercial sale and contract, terms of service and use, warranties, and various other status and transactional declarations.  
      In step  420 , a model of the legally interested parties in the intellectual property, including creators, owners, beneficiaries, fiducially interested parties, agents, users, licensees, sellers and resellers, purchasers or buyers, regulating or administrative bodies, offices or jurisdictions such as governments, consortia, or business entities, private or public certifiers, and so on, is created and stored.  
      In step  430 , relationships between the legally interested parties are created, and the specific interest or relationship of the parties to the intellectual property is asserted (e.g., by hypertext references). That is, the relationships of the individual or party to the intellectual property, to each other, and to the legal rights and limitations are established.  
      In step  440 , a commercial or non-commercial offer of the intellectual property, with associated rights and limitations, is made. In one embodiment, the offer is made over the Internet (e.g., via Web site  310  of  FIG. 3 ). For example, the property may be available for sale, lease or rent. For each of these types of distribution, in one embodiment, the associated list of applicable rights can be invoked through hypertext references.  
      In step  450 , an agreement (e.g., a digital rights grant) is reached with a user, purchaser or licensee to purchase, rent, lease, etc., the intellectual property. Assertions and declarations in the agreement can be tested for validity. For example, proposed terms and conditions can be matched against a standard set of terms and conditions, so that deviations can be identified for review and approval. Because these exist electronically (digitally), the comparison can be performed in software or in a hardware computation, and the results of the comparison can be provided if necessary to a human user for review. In addition, changes to law or business policies or agreements can be reflected by updates to or reconfigurations of the modules within the system, enabling much easier compliance to legal and fiscal standards and practices.  
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart of the steps in a process  500  for executing a transaction of intellectual property in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with the present embodiment of the present invention, process  500  exemplifies an application of process  400  ( FIG. 4 ). Process  500  can be implemented via computer-readable program instructions stored in a memory unit (e.g., random access memory  102 , read-only memory  103 , and/or data storage device  104 ) and executed by processor  101  of computer system  190  ( FIG. 1A ). In one embodiment, process  500  is implemented via a client-server computer system network (e.g., network  170  of  FIG. 1B ). In the present embodiment, process  500  is implemented using XML, or using a system of encoding or markup which can be converted into or converted from XML.  
      In step  510  of  FIG. 5 , with reference also to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , an intellectual property (e.g., intellectual property  202 ) is modeled and stored using Web site  310  (as described by steps  410 ,  420  and  430  of  FIG. 4 ). A representation of intellectual property  202  is identified using DID  205 , so that queries can be made with regard to the features, rights, requests and responses associated with the property.  
      In step  520 , using Web site  310 , intellectual property  202  is published as being offered for sale, rent, lease, etc. Refer also to step  440  of  FIG. 4 .  
      In step  530 , using Internet Protocol, Web site  310  receives a request (e.g., DRR  215  or DLR  235 ) from e-commerce site  320  regarding certain types of intellectual properties (perhaps software of for a particular application). Web site  310  responds with a list of relevant intellectual properties using their DIDs or through an XML message containing digital feature format documents (e.g., DFD  226 ) for the properties.  
      In step  540 , Web site  310 , perhaps in response to a further request from e-commerce site  320  or perhaps without prompting, describes the types of distribution that may be made (e.g., sale, rent, or lease). Web site  310  also can provide the terms and conditions (e.g., DRG  216  or DLA(e)  236 ) with regard to the sale, rent, license, etc., of the intellectual properties (or for one particular intellectual property selected by e-commerce site  320 ). E-commerce site  320  can review these terms and conditions and, in one embodiment, can provide them to a human user for approval. In another embodiment, the human user may have assigned an agent which has stored standard legal terms and conditions, business practices and procedural logic to act on the human user&#39;s behalf in compliance with the user&#39;s preferences. As long as the response complies with the stored processes and logic, the computer agent may conduct certain levels of standard business for the human agent.  
      As described previously, terms and conditions can be negotiated by comparing proposed terms and conditions against a standard set of terms and conditions. Any deviations can be identified, and if necessary provided to a human user for review and approval, or to a different “IP over IP” framework-compliant system with greater logical processing capabilities.  
      In step  550 , upon approval, the agreement is returned to Web site  310  and the commercial transfer of the intellectual property is accomplished over the Internet via Internet Protocol. The agreement can also be stored electronically for further processing or for reference.  
      The present embodiment of the present invention thus provides a method and system thereof for establishing legal rights and limitations regarding the use of electronically distributed intellectual property (e.g., a “digital rights framework”). The digital rights framework provides a method and system for processing information encoded in a standardized and extensible format for modeling and representing the legal rights, limitations and responsibilities for intellectual properties distributed, for example, over the World Wide Web using Internet Protocol. Furthermore, the present invention provides a method and system for granting those rights to a purchaser or licensee, in order to more effectively protect the property rights of the intellectual property owner.  
      In accordance with the present invention, all forms of intellectual property can use a common series of extensible languages (e.g., XML) and control systems to request and respond to requests for access, control, ownership, rights of use or reuse, etc., and to enable network and automatic computerized actions regarding the distribution of the intellectual property once the rights of access have been established and accepted. For example, the intellectual property management system of the present invention can be applied to the distribution of software over the Internet using Internet Protocol.  
      In addition to application in the software industry, the present invention can be extended to the telecommunications industry, which has embodiments and representations of rights of access or use of a network as well as intellectual properties such as pay-per-view movies and events. Similarly, the present invention can be extended to general content media properties, such as music or other audio, video and film, written literature, news, specialized data and information sources such as medical and financial records, and so on.  
      In summary, the present embodiment of the present invention provides a method and system thereof for modeling and asserting information regarding the rights, responsibilities and other terms of use of intellectual property within the “IP over IP” (intellectual property over Internet Protocol) framework. The present invention also allows interrogation of that information and responds to those interrogations. The present invention further allows for storage and transport of the information regarding the rights, responsibilities and other terms of use of intellectual property.  
      The preferred embodiment of the present invention, digital rights framework, is thus described. While the present invention has been described in particular embodiments, it should be appreciated that the present invention should not be construed as limited by such embodiments, but rather construed according to the following claims.