US 6,253,193 · Granted 2001-06-26

The 2001 Patent That Tried to Lock Down Digital Rights Forever

Imagine if every song, movie, or book you downloaded came with invisible rules built into your computer that stopped you from copying it or sharing it without permission. This patent describes a system that uses special hardware and software to track and control exactly how digital stuff gets used, creating a kind of digital fortress around movies, music, and other files.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a distributed system where computers and devices work together to enforce strict rules on digital content—deciding who can access it, how many times, and in what ways. What's protected here is the underlying architecture: tamper-resistant hardware inside devices that enforces these rules, plus the methods for tracking and metering use across a network. If someone built a competing system that uses similar hardware-based controls to prevent unauthorized copying or distribution of digital media, they could infringe this patent.

Why it matters

This patent represents one of the foundational approaches to digital rights management (DRM)—the technology that studios and publishers have used for decades to prevent unauthorized copying of movies, music, and software. Filed in 1998 and granted in 2001, it arrived exactly when the internet was exploding and copyright holders were panicking about piracy. The patent's vision of embedding security into hardware itself became the basis for copy-protection schemes that remain controversial today.

Real-world use

When you buy a song on iTunes and your device won't let you copy it to an unlimited number of computers, or when a streaming app prevents you from downloading a movie and sharing it with a friend—you're encountering the kinds of controls this patent describes.

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 6,253,193
Filing date: 1998-12-09
Grant date: 2001-06-26
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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