US 5,982,891 · Granted 1999-11-09

The 1997 Patent That Tried to Lock Down Digital Rights Forever

Imagine a digital vault built into your computer that decides who can read, copy, or share files — and keeps a record of everything. This patent describes a system where content creators can protect their work by encoding rules directly into the software, so unauthorized people can't access or distribute it without permission.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The patent covers a distributed system where computers enforce access rules on digital content through secure hardware and software layers. What's protected here is the method of creating a 'virtual distribution environment' that monitors and controls how information is used across networked devices, preventing unauthorized copying or access by establishing security checkpoints at each computer in the chain.

Why it matters

This patent represents an early attempt to solve a massive problem in digital commerce: how do you prevent piracy and protect intellectual property in a world where files can be copied infinitely for free? Intertrust was betting that if you embed the protection directly into the operating system and hardware, you could make digital rights enforceable. It became foundational thinking in DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology, though the approach remained controversial among technologists and consumers.

Real-world use

When you purchase a digital book, movie, or song with copy restrictions that prevent you from sharing it or playing it on unauthorized devices, you're experiencing the descendant of this technology.

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 5,982,891
Filing date: 1997-11-04
Grant date: 1999-11-09
Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corp.
Inventor(s): GINTER; KARL L., SHEAR; VICTOR H., SPAHN; FRANCIS J., VAN WIE; DAVID M.
CPC class: G06Q50/184

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