Patent ID: 8677430

Claim:
A system comprising: a first data store for storing rental content; a second data store for storing at least one of user rental history and user purchase history associated with the rental content; and a content server for transferring content to a first viewing device based upon a received request, wherein the content server is further configured to record the request in the second data store and to authorize the transfer of the content from the first viewing device to a second viewing device, and the content server is further configured to authorize the first viewing device to remove the content from the first viewing device after an expiration of a playback period, and the content server is further configured to authorize the first viewing device to flag the content for removal from the second viewing device, after the expiration of the playback period, wherein the removal would occur when the second device has received a communication to remove the content, wherein the playback period includes: a rental period defined as a period of time during which playback of the content is to be initiated, and a viewing period during which content playback must be completed after content playback is initiated, wherein content playback is allowed to exceed the expiration of the rental period if the viewing period has not expired so long as content playback is initiated during the rental period and the playback is not paused after the expiration of the rental period.