Patent ID: 8250660

Claim:
A method for providing royalty payments for content distributed via a network, said method comprising: receiving registration information from a participant who requires royalty payments for content to be distributed; assigning a unique identifier to the participant; steganographically embedding the content with the identifier; and associating a royalty payment action with the identifier in a data repository; in which the royalty payment action is initiated when a rendering device decodes the steganographic embedding and obtains the identifier during a transaction, the identifier being provided to the data repository and, in response to receiving the identifier, performing the royalty payment action, in which said performing the royalty payment action does not occur when the content includes limited functionality for initial evaluation prior to a purchase or licensing transaction but said performing the royalty payment action does occur when the content is purchased or enabled for longer evaluation relative to the initial evaluation; wherein the royalty payment action comprises determining a percentage of revenue that corresponds to an amount of times the content undergoes a transaction.