Patent ID: 7325247

Claim:
An information management method managing information of a recording medium by an information management apparatus, the recording medium having medium-specific information, and comprising a user-use area allowing writing and reading out of arbitrary information in accordance with external instructions, and a secure area that is not subject to control by external instructions, said information management apparatus having a write and read out means writing the arbitrary information to and reading the arbitrary information from said user-use area, and a predetermined information deriving means deriving the predetermined information stored in said secure area, comprising: storing an encrypted electronic data to the user-use area of the recording medium as the arbitrary information; storing license information based on use rights for using the encrypted electronic data stored in the user-use area to the secure area of the recording medium as the predetermined information; deriving the license information outside said secure area of the recording medium and encrypting the license information stored in the secure area using medium-specific information or a key generated therefrom; and storing the encrypted license information to the user-use area or other recording medium; wherein the information management apparatus encrypts and stores license information to the user-use area, decrypts the encrypted license information stored in the user-use area using the medium-specific information or a key generated therefrom, and updates the license information stored in said secure area.