Patent ID: 7210165

Claim:
In a messaging system comprising a rights management server that controls the type of operations principals can perform on protected content and a message server that receives messages and makes them available to principals or their agents, a method of pre-licensing content subject to rights management in order to allow a principal access to the content when the principal does not have access to the rights management server, the method comprising acts of: receiving, by the message server, which is distinct from a rights management server, a message from a sending computing system, the message being subject to rights management in that access to at least a part of the message is controlled through a rights management server, the message server recognizing that the message is subject to rights management, receiving, by the message server, a publishing license from the sending computing system, the publishing license containing a rights expression identifying the at least part of the message subject to rights management, specifying one or more intended recipients for the at least part of the message subject to rights management, and specifying one or more rights for each of the one or more intended recipients, and wherein the rights expression limits the one or more principals' operation in at least one of re-licensing, printing, forwarding and sharing of the message, the publishing license being previously acquired by the sending computing system from the rights management server; upon the message server recognizing that the message is subject to rights management, requesting from the rights management server, by the message server on behalf of one or more principals, at least one use license for allowing the one or more principals access to the message, wherein the request includes the publishing license to identify the at least part of the message subject to rights management to the rights management server; the rights management server issuing to the message server one or more use licenses that allow one or more principals to access the at least part of the message subject to rights management without subsequent access to a rights management server; receiving, by the message server on behalf of the one or more principals, the at least one use license so that the one or more principals may obtain the at least one use license from the message server and access the at least part of the message subject to rights management without the one or more principals having to request the at least one use license from a rights management server; providing, by the message server, to at least one of the one or more principals, one or more of the at least one use license; and receiving, by the principal, from the message server, the content and the use license such that the principal is enabled to access the content in accordance with the use license at a time when the principal does not have access to a rights management server.