Patent ID: 7607158

Claim:
A method for trading electronic information items, the method comprising: providing an electronic information item trading system; said trading system including: a trading center with a trading database server and a trading exchange server; a selection process, a packaging process, and a control delivery process; providing the trading center access to a network to enable trading of the electronic information items; having at least one network operator associated with the trading system, where each of said at least one network operator delivers content through their network that is available through subscription; providing a control device for executing the selection process and the control delivery process; the system capable of supporting a plurality of users and enabling the users associated with the network operator the ability to trade content to which they subscribe, wherein users who complete the selection process are identified as selling subscribers and users who acquire at least one dealpack are identified as buying subscribers; the selection process including: wherein when one of the selling-subscribers identifies and selects content for their use and directs the remaining content which is identified as for-not-use to the packaging process; the packaging process transforming the for-not-use content into dealpacks; providing a plurality of gateways on the network, the gateways controlling the path of the dealpacks; listing the dealpacks on the trading system where the users of the trading system have access to the dealpacks; a control delivery process for delivering traded dealpacks including: receiving a payment for the traded dealpack; generating a secret key for the traded dealpack; submission and verification of the secret key; delivering the traded dealpack to the buying subscriber upon verification of the secret key.