Patent ID: 7058606

Claim:
A method for loaning use of a digital work having one or more rights associated therewith within a system having end-user repositories configured to enforce use of said digital work in accordance with said one or more rights, said method comprising: electronically associating a loan right with a digital work, said loan right specifying how the digital work is loaned and a loan periods, wherein the loan right is created from a grammar including one or more symbols selected from a set of predetermined symbols to define a valid sequence of symbols to indicate how the digital work is loaned and the loan period; electronically receiving at an end-user loaner repository from an end-user requestor repository a loan request message specifying the digital work; electronically determining at the loaner repository if said request message is valid; electronically transferring by the loaner repository use of the digital work during the loan period to the requester repository in accordance with said loan right if said loan request message is determined to be valid by the loaner repository; electronically updating loan right data for the digital work by the loaner repository; and electronically deactivating use of the digital work by the requester repository upon exhaustion of the loan period, wherein the requester repository and the loaner repository include both a requester mode of operation and a server mode of operation, the requester mode of operation is configured for sending a loan request message specifying a digital work to a loaner repository, and the server mode of operation is configured for processing a received loan request message from a requester repository.