Patent ID: 8260712

Claim:
A contents reproduction method executed by a contents reproduction apparatus that reproduces content data, the contents reproduction method comprising: a step of obtaining the content data, the content data including a plurality of resources, the plurality of resources including at least one main resource and including at least one sub resource, such that: the main resource has a license associated therewith that is required for reproducing the main resource and that needs to be locked when reproducing the main resource; the main resource is data that includes a main part of contents; the sub resource is a different entity from the main resource; the sub resource has a license associated therewith that is required for reproducing the sub resource and that does not need to be locked when reproducing the sub resource; the sub resource is data that is associated with the main resource and that includes related information associated with the main part of the contents; the license associated with the main resource and the license associated with the sub resource (i) are stored in a recording medium, (ii) contain license information to which a use situation for each resource of the plurality of resources is set, and (iii) contain a condition for using the license associated with the main resource and the license associated with the sub resource; a step of obtaining the license information for the content data, the license information being required for reproducing each of the main resource and the sub resource; a step of reproducing at least one of the main resource and the sub resource; a step of locking the license associated with the main resource when reproducing the main resource; and a step of (i) during said reproduction of the main resource, determining that a start of reproducing a resource (a) that is different from the main resource being reproduced and (b) that requires the license information for reproduction thereof is not permitted, and (ii) during said reproduction of the sub resource, determining that a start of reproducing a resource (a) that is different from the sub resource being reproduced and (b) that requires the license information for reproduction thereof is permitted.