Patent ID: 8037038

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor; a repository residing in the memory that includes: a plurality of components; and a plurality of reuse contracts corresponding to the plurality of components, each reuse contract specifying at least one reuse criterion that determines whether a corresponding component may be reused, wherein the at least one reuse criterion includes at least one author criterion that must be satisfied for an author to reuse the corresponding component, wherein the at least one author criterion comprises role, experience and current rank, wherein the at least one reuse criterion further includes at least one format criterion that comprises size, resolution and surrounding white space, wherein the at least one reuse criterion further includes at least one license criterion that comprises cost of reuse and date limitations that specify a maximum date for reuse, wherein the at least one reuse criterion further includes at least one contextual criterion that specifies a spatial relationship with respect to text, image and advertising, wherein the at least one contextual criterion specifies when the corresponding component must be always next to text, when the corresponding component must be always next to image, when the corresponding component must be always next to advertising, when the corresponding component must be never next to text, when the corresponding component must be never next to image, and when the corresponding component must be never next to advertising; a content management system residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the content management system managing the plurality of components in the repository, the content management system comprising: a content reuse mechanism that examines a requested reuse by a selected author of one of the plurality of components that includes a reuse contract and determines whether the at least one reuse criterion in the reuse contract allows the selected author to reuse the one component before allowing the selected author to reuse the one component.