Patent ID: 7802306

Claim:
A method for controlling access to a copy of a digital asset watermarked with a content specific watermark and a user specific watermark comprising: comparing the content specific watermark in the copy of the digital asset to content specific watermark information in a digital certificate; comparing the user specific watermark in the copy of the digital asset to user specific watermark information in the digital certificate; controlling access to the copy of the digital asset based on comparing the content specific watermark to the content specific watermark information in the digital certificate and comparing the user specific watermark to the user specific watermark information in the digital certificate, wherein first portions of the copy of the digital asset are watermarked with the content specific watermark and the user specific watermark and second portions of the copy of the digital asset are watermarked with the content specific watermark but not the user specific watermark; providing full access to the copy of the digital asset if the content specific watermark matches the content specific watermark information in the digital certificate and the user specific watermark matches the user specific watermark information in the digital certificate; and providing access to the second portions of the copy of the digital asset but not the first portions of the copy of the digital asset if the content specific watermark matches the content specific watermark information in the digital certificate but the user specific watermark does not match the user specific watermark information in the digital certificate.