Patent ID: 8145038

Claim:
An information transmitting apparatus, comprising: a receiver configured to receive a first content item associated with a first viewable time, the first viewable time defining a period of time during which the content item can be viewed after being started to play back; a management module configured to manage the first content item and a remaining viewable time by associating the first content item with the remaining viewable time, the remaining viewable time being a remaining period of time during which the first content item can be viewed; a transmitter configured to transmit a second content item and information of second viewable time to a device to which a duplicate is to be made, the second content item being a duplicate of the first content item and at least part of the second content item being encrypted so as to prevent alteration and the information of the second viewable time defining a period of time during which the second content item can be viewed in the device to which the duplicate is to be made; a judgment module configured to judge that transmission of the second content item is disapproved when a period of time obtained by subtracting the second viewable time from the remaining viewable time is less than a certain period of time and to judge that the transmission of the second content item is approved when the subtracted period of time is not less than the certain period of time; and an update module configured to update the remaining viewable time managed by the management module to the subtracted period of time when the transmitter transmits the information of the second viewable time based on the judgment by the judgment module.