Patent ID: 8160947

Claim:
A method using a computer for tracking third party property right information in a software product comprising a plurality of source files, the method comprising: performing by the computer: generating, for each given source file of the plurality of source files of the software product, a respective first electronic identifier via a fingerprint generation function performed on content of said each given source file, wherein at least some of the content in said each given source file is program code content; determining, for each given first electronic identifier, whether said given first electronic identifier matches an identifier from a plurality of second electronic identifiers associated with respective audit records in a database, wherein the audit records are indicative of third party property right information for respective content of at least some of the plurality of source files, wherein third party property rights are rights of an entity other than an entity producing the software product and other than an end user of the software product; in response to determining a match between a given one of said first electronic identifiers and a given one of said second electronic identifiers: retrieving the respective audit record associated with said given one of said second electronic identifiers from the database, wherein the retrieved audit record indicates third party property right information for the content of one of the plurality of source files that is identified by the given one of said first electronic identifiers; and in response to determining that an other one of said first electronic identifiers does not match any of the second electronic identifiers: determining third party property right information for a particular content of a particular source file, wherein said determining third party property right information for the particular content of the particular source file includes evaluating the particular content of the particular source file upon which the generation of the other one of said first electronic identifiers is dependent; generating a respective audit record that comprises the determined third party property right information for the particular content of the particular source file; and linking the other one of said first electronic identifiers to the respective audit record in the database.