Access files and transferable access right system for digital intellectual property

Abstract

A system and method of use for Access Files and Transferrable Access Right System for digital intellectual properties (IP). An IP-User gain paid, sponsored or free access of specific level of Access Right to remotely archived digital IP. Using the system's custodial software installed in the IP-User's access device, the IP-User downloads a copy of potentially large digital IP for local access and creates Overlays of value-added information for the digital IP. The Access Right and the Overlay information are stored in a small protected Access File. The large digital IP is deleted after each use, if desired, for security purposes or to save local memory space. The Access Files are stored in local protected folders and optionally stored securely in the remote IP archive system and they are indexed, searchable and retrievable by keywords and partial information. The IP-User opening the Access File will cause the applicable archived digital IP to be Access-Right-verified, accessed and downloaded again, the annotation overlay will be applied and then the composite IP is presented to the IP-User. The IP-User's Access Right is registered and can be securely transferred to another IP-User using the Transferable Access Right System.

1 . A method for Access File for accessing archived IP comprising the steps of:
 establishing a digital archive system capable of receiving and storing IP contributed by an IP-Owner via communication networks;   receiving the IP contributed by the IP-Owner;   archiving the IP with the digital archive system;   assigning one or more unique codes for each IP, at least one of which being a unique address within the digital archive system;   receiving confirmation of copyright ownership from the contributing IP-Owner;   receiving and implementing the terms, comprising at least the prices, for the different levels of Access Rights for the archived IP;   enabling at least purchased, sponsored and/or free access to the IP, by one or more IP-Users, at the at least one unique address;   maintaining a unique user identifier and a unique user password combination for each IP-User;   verifying the identity of the IP-User before enabling access to the IP;   accepting information provided by the an IP-User which relates to the IP-User's particular interest in the IP; and   creating and storing locally an Access File for the specific IP-User for a specific IP archived in the digital archive system wherein the Access File information comprises at least the IP-User's level of Access Right to that archived IP, plus IP-User provided Overlay information comprising at least annotations, keywords, tags, excerpts or attachments.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of, upon the IP-User opening an Access File,
 connecting via communication network to the digital archive system; 
 providing the information proving the IP-User's acquired level of Access Right; 
 retrieving the archive IP; 
 applying the locally stored Overlay Information to the retrieved IP; and 
 presenting the composite IP to the IP-User. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising the step of, upon the IP-User closing an accessed IP:
 storing the revised overlay information in a new Access File, and/or the existing Access File; and 
 deleting from local storage the retrieved IP. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of storing the Access File securely and redundantly at the remote IP archival system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of managing a plurality access files associated with a plurality of IP including searching for a specific IP or for the information contained within a specific IP, using at least a keyword, tag, search term or search phrase. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of:
 receiving derivative IP in the form of new Access File contributed by an IP-User, the contributed derivative IP being related to the specific archived IP, the IP-User becoming a new IP-Owner of the derivative IP, the derivative IP itself becoming IP contributed by the new IP-Owner. 
 
     
     
         7 . A system for an localized IP access system comprising the steps of:
 establishing a community of IP-Users; and   providing a custodial application (CSW) for operation on a single IP-User's access device, the CSW being operational on the access device for
 creating secure storage which can only be interfaced with the CSW, 
 retrieving a requested IP from the remote digital archival system and storing an IP copy locally in the secure storage via CSW, and 
 providing the IP-User access to the IP copy via CSW according to the IP-User's preferred access level previously established with the digital archival system. 
   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  further comprising a system for Transferring Access Rights to an IP copy in a localized IP access system, enabling the transfer from a sending IP-User to a receiving IP-User, comprising the steps of:
 establishing operation of the Custodial Software (CSW) on a single access device of each of the sending and receiving IP-Users; 
 transmitting an unique user identifier of the receiving IP-User to the sending IP-User's; 
 encrypting the IP copy via the sending IP-User's CSW and using the receiving IP-User's identifier so as to be decrypted only by the receiver IP-User's CSW; 
 transmitting the encrypted IP copy to the receiving IP-Member; and 
 deleting the IP copy at the sending IP-Member's computer. 
 deregistering the sending IP-User's Access Right at the remote digital archival system, upon the sending IP-User's next access to the system; 
 registering the receiving IP-User's Access Right at the remote digital archival system, upon the receiving IP-User's next access to the system; 
 collecting and distributing residue royalty for the IP; and 
 collecting a fee for the service.