Patent ID: 7577999

Claim:
A method for a licensor to issue a digital license to a requestor to allow the requestor to render corresponding digital content, the licensor having access to a directory including a listing for the requestor, the listing including an identifier of the requestor and an identifier of each group which the requestor is a member of, the method comprising: receiving a request from the requestor, the request including (i) a sent certificate including an identifier identifying the requestor and (ii) a signed rights label including rights data associated with the digital content, the rights data listing a plurality of identifiers and for each listed identifier rights associated therewith; locating the identifier of the requestor in the directory; locating in the directory, from the located requestor identifier in the directory, the identifier of each group which the requestor is a member of; comparing each located group identifier to each of the plurality of identifiers listed in the rights data to find at least one match; issuing the license to the requestor with the rights from the rights data associated with the matching identifier.