Patent ID: 8712981

Claim:
A system comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory device to store a content item policy fulfillment module executable by the at least one processor of the system to: receive, via a network interface device from a requesting client content viewing application, a policy request including user identity data and data identifying a policy assigned to a content item; determine whether a user represented by the user identity data is associated with the identified policy as either a user or as a member of a defined group, the determining including performing a query against a database storing: user records representative of system users; group records defining groups; group assignment records associating users to groups; policy records defining content access policies assignable to items of electronic content, wherein a content access policy identifies one or more permitted and restricted user actions with regard to an item of electronic content when a user accesses the item of electronic content associated with the content access policy; and user/group policy records associating a policy record to a user or group record; and when the user is associated with the policy, retrieve a policy record as a function of the data identifying the policy, retrieve data representative of users and groups assigned to the retrieved policy record as a function of the data identifying the policy, and send, via the network interface device, the retrieved policy record and data representative of the users and groups assigned to the retrieved policy record to the requesting client content viewing application, the policy record including data that limits at least one ability of the user to perform at least one action in the requesting client content viewing application with regard to the item of content and at least one other user or group of users assigned to the retrieved policy record.