Patent ID: 8090798

Claim:
A method for distributing content files in a peer-to-peer network, the method comprising the steps of: configuring a result server to act as a node in the peer-to-peer network, said peer-to-peer network being organized loosely without any centralized management authority, said result server being further configured to follow rules and protocols of the de-centralized peer-to-peer network; controlling, with a file server, a database of stored content files, wherein each of said content files encodes copyrighted material and contains embedded executable code, said embedded executable code causing at least one advertisement to be presented to a request issuing peer when said content file is utilized, the at least one advertisement being presented with the cooperation and volition of a company holding rights to the copyrighted material; probing, with the result server, peer-to-peer network traffic to discover file search requests from request issuing peers, said search requests conforming to the rules and protocols of the peer-to-peer network and comprising a search criteria; searching, with the result server, a database for names of files satisfying the search criteria in the discovered file search request; determining, with the result server, at least one file satisfies the search criteria; conveying, with the result server, a results page to a request issuing peer, said results page comprising the names of a set of one or more files satisfying the discovered file search request and a hyperlink associated with each file name, wherein each hyperlink, when activated, causes transmission of a request for a selected file associated with the hyperlink; and responding, with the file server, to the request by serving a content file of the content files, comprising a copy of the selected file and the embedded executable code.