Patent ID: 7831515

Claim:
A computer-driven system for managing access to digital products, comprising: at least one digital data processor; and at least one digital data storage device coupled to the processor, the digital data storage device including at least one computer readable storage medium storing executable instructions that when executed by the digital data processor cause the digital data processor to perform operations comprising: receiving from a vendor and storing in the storage device items comprising: one or more software products each associated with one of multiple catalog items, a license key associated with each of the software products, and a licensing rule associated with each of the catalog items; responsive to receiving orders from customers, each of said orders containing a reference to one of the catalog items where said catalog item is associated with one or more of the one or more software products, for each of said orders providing said customer from which the order was received with access to the one or more software products associated with the referenced catalog item by: creating or modifying an entitlement for the referenced catalog item said entitlement designating said customer in conjunction with the one or more software products associated with the referenced catalog item; and sending said customer a license key for each of said one or more software products associated with the referenced catalog item; receiving a first software product from a vendor and storing the first software product in the storage device; responsive to receiving the first software product, determining without receiving from said customers an update request for the first software product, that the first software product is an update of one or more of the software products stored in the storage device and associated with a given one of the catalog items; identifying customers who have been provided access to said one or more software products updated by the first software product, and for each said identified customer updating the entitlement by designating the first software product in conjunction with the identified customer; and based on the licensing rule and the updated entitlement for the given catalog item, for each identified customer generating one or more new license keys for the first software product and transmitting said one or more new license keys to said identified customer.