Patent ID: 8266526

Claim:
A distributed and decentralized document management system including a first copier, a second copier, and a third copier, the second copier comprising: a creation portion that, in a case of copying an original document that includes an original document identifier and a first copier identifier that identifies the first copier that created the original document, creates a first derived document that includes a first derived document identifier and a second copier identifier that identifies the second copier, in the document management system, that creates the first derived document; a transmission portion that transmits the original document identifier and the second copier identifier to the first copier that created the original document; a receiving portion that receives the first derived document identifier and a third copier identifier that identifies the third copier, in the document management system, that further copies the first derived document; a memory portion that stores the original document identifier, the first copier identifier, the first derived document identifier, and the third copier identifier in relation to each other; a search portion that searches for a distribution path of the original document with the use of the association of the original document identifier, the first derived document identifier, and the third copier identifier; and a notification portion that conveys at least one information in the memory portion to a search requester when a search is conducted by the search portion, the copying, of the original document being performed by the second copier.