Method and system for proving ownership of digital data
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsAndré Adelsbach, Birgit Pfitzmann, Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for proving ownership of digital media works. Proof of ownership of such type of work is provided by a protocol for registering a work with a registration center thus providing the rightful owner or copyright holder of the work with an ownership certificate. There is also provided a protocol for proving to another party who is a prospective buyer or licensee, that an ownership claim is correct and valid by providing the ownership certificate when required. Another protocol is utilized for showing to a third party, a prospective buyer or licensee, that a second party has correctly obtained the corresponding work from the rightful copyright owner.
Claims17
A method for proving ownership of a digital work W, involving a copyright owner H of said work, a registration center RC, and at least one third party D, comprising the following protocols:
- automatically plementing an ownership registration protocol for identifying said owner H, and his/her work W to be registered to said registration center RC;
- wherein said ownership registration protocol is a two-party protocol between the owner H and said registration center RC concerning his/her original work Wi to be registered,
- in said ownership registration protocol, said owner H then obtaining a proof of ownership certificate, by way of a proof string proofH identifying said owner H and said work W and, potentially, any other work W″ derived from said work W;
- and
- said registration center RC performing a similarity test to prevent multiple registrations of similar works and
- transmitting a certificate to owner H of a form:
- proofH=signRC(IdH, h(W), h(W′), testinfW, reg_time, reg_text), wherein IdW, identifies owner H, h(W), h(W′) denote hash values of a collision free hash function h, reg_time denotes a registration time, and reg_text denotes a textual description of the registration;
- implementing a proof of ownership protocol which enables said owner H to prove his/her ownership in said work W, and in any other work derived from said work, W to said third party D, and
- implementing a show protocol which enables said third party D to demonstrate his/her legitimate rights in said work W, that he/she has obtained a proof of ownership from a rightful owner of the work W.
A computerized system for proving copyright ownership of a digital work W, of an owner H, including a registration center RC, implemented by a group of protocols, said system comprising:
- means for executing an initializing protocol for setting up said system, including cryptographic key generation for parties involved;
- means for executing a registration protocol for identifying said owner H, and his/her work W to be registered to said registration center RC;
- means for executing a proof of ownership protocol which enables said owner H to prove his/her ownership in said work W, and in any other work derived from said work, W to a third party D,
- means for executing a show protocol which enables said third party D to demonstrate that he/she has legitimate rights in said work W wherein:
- said means for executing said registration protocol further:
- controls said registration center RC to perform a similarity test to prevent multiple registrations of similar works and
- transmit to owner H a certificate of a form:
- proofH=signRC(IdH, h(W), h(W′), testinfW, reg_time, reg_text), wherein IdH identifies owner H, h(W), h(W′) denote hash values of a collision free hash function h, reg_time denotes a registration time, and reg_text denotes a textual description of the registration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.