Patent ID: 8805743

Claim:
A method for tracking sublicensing of a primary license, granted by a licensor to a primary licensee, to use a software program, the method comprising the steps of: responsive to identifying, by a computer, a secondary license granted by the primary licensee to a secondary licensee to use the software program, the computer determining a unit cost for portions of the primary license based on a first term of the primary license and a first value of the primary license, the computer determining a second value of a second term of the secondary license based on the unit cost, the computer reducing a right under the primary license by reducing the first value of the primary license by the second value of the secondary license, wherein the first value of the primary license is represented and stored, by the computer, in a first data node for the primary license in a hierarchy of data nodes representing the primary license and sublicensed portions of the primary license, and representing and storing, by the computer, the second value of the second term of the secondary license in a second data node in the hierarchy, wherein the second data node is for the secondary license and the second data node is a child node of the first data node in the hierarchy.