Patent ID: 8719954

Claim:
A system for production and secure transfer of protected content, the system comprising: a key creation subsystem that generates a production key; selection logic that selects at least one of a plurality of separate files of original content for protection; combining logic that combines the original content with annotation data associated with the original content; a communications interface that receives an Appliance ID from a recipient device, wherein the Appliance ID is sent by the recipient device after the recipient device generates the Appliance ID by operating on data that identifies at least one unique feature of a hardware element or software element installed on the recipient device; a data content encryption subsystem that encrypts the original content and the annotation data based on the production key, wherein the original content has defined usage rights including a restricted export option which permits export of the annotation data without permitting export of the associated original content in a decrypted form; appliance hash logic that generates an Appliance Key based on the Appliance ID without providing the Appliance Key to the recipient device; and a production key encryption subsystem that encrypts the production key based on the Appliance Key.