Patent ID: 7707066

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for facilitating a transaction between a first entity and a second entity via a network comprising a plurality of computing devices, the method comprising: storing a plurality of title objects on one or more of the computing devices, each title object representing at least one right which may be redeemed by presentation of the title object to a title-enabled process operating in the network, each title object encoding indicia preventing duplicate redemption of the title object, the indicia comprising an updateable state, each title object also encoding a pointer to a resource in the network to which the at least one right corresponds; exchanging selected ones of the title objects between the first and second entities to effect the transaction and transfer of the rights represented by the selected title objects between the first and second entities, wherein exchanging the selected title objects comprises, transferring control of a first one of the selected title objects from a first title management process operating on one or more of the computing devices to which the first entity has access to a second title management process operating on one or more of the computing devices to which the second entity has access, and transferring control of a second one of the selected title objects from the second title management process to the first title management process; and in conjunction with exchange of the selected title objects, updating the updateable states encoded in each of the selected title objects to agree with correspondingly updated externally stored states for each of the selected title objects to transfer of the rights represented by the selected title objects between the first and second entities and to ensure that only a single valid instance of each of the selected title objects is in circulation in the network.