Patent ID: 7676219

Claim:
A method for determining whether a second receiving device is authorized for access to copyright-protected digital content received from a first receiving device, the method comprising: receiving electronic copyright protected content at a first receiving device authorized for electronically redistributing the protected content within a subscriber domain of receiving devices comprising the first receiving device and the second receiving device, subject to content usage rules that specify a defined maximum separation distance from the first receiving device for receiving devices in the subscriber domain; receiving a request from a second receiving device, requesting that access to the protected content received by the first receiving device be provided to the second receiving device; determining a geographic separation distance between the first receiving device and the second receiving device, in response to receiving the request; providing the second receiving device with access to the protected content if the determined separation distance does not exceed the defined maximum separation distance specified by the content usage rules; and preventing the second receiving device from accessing the protected content, if the determined separation distance exceeds the defined maximum separation distance.