US 5,917,912 · Granted 1999-06-29

The Digital Rights Lock That Shaped Online Security

Imagine a vault that follows your files around the internet, making sure only the right people can open them and tracking exactly what they do. This patent describes a system that puts a security layer inside computers themselves, so movies, music, documents, or software can't be copied or shared without permission.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The patent covers a distributed system that sits inside computers and devices to monitor and control how digital information is accessed and used. What's protected here is the idea of a 'virtual distribution environment' — essentially a security framework that tracks files as they move through networks, enforces who can view or copy them, and logs their usage. The claims extend to hardware-based processors that resist tampering and the methods for maintaining that control across multiple connected systems.

Why it matters

This patent arrived during the earliest debates over how to protect digital content in the internet age. Intertrust was trying to solve a core problem of the 1990s: once you distribute music or movies electronically, how do you stop unauthorized copying? The patent represents an early attempt at what became known as Digital Rights Management (DRM). While the approach outlined here didn't become the dominant standard, it helped establish the legal and technical language around digital protection that shaped industry discussions and regulations for decades.

Real-world use

When you download a movie through a legitimate streaming service and notice it only plays on certain devices or stops working if you cancel your subscription, you're encountering the legacy of ideas this patent pioneered.

Original USPTO abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for secure transaction management and electronic rights protection. Electronic appliances such as computers equipped in accordance with the present invention help to ensure that information is accessed and used only in authorized ways, and maintain the integrity, availability, and/or confidentiality of the information. Such electronic appliances provide a distributed virtual distribution environment (VDE) that may enforce a secure chain of handling and control, for example, to control and/or meter or otherwise monitor use of electronically stored or disseminated information. Such a virtual distribution environment may be used to protect rights of various participants in electronic commerce and other electronic or electronic-facilitated transactions. Distributed and other operating systems, environments and architectures, such as, for example, those using tamper-resistant hardware-based processors, may establish security at each node. These techniques may be used to support an all-electronic information distribution, for example, utilizing the "electronic highway.

Patent details

Publication number: US 5,917,912
Filing date: 1997-01-08
Grant date: 1999-06-29
Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation
Inventor(s): GINTER; KARL L., SHEAR; VICTOR H., SPAHN; FRANCIS J., VAN WIE; DAVID M.
CPC class: G06Q50/184

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