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Microsoft Awarded Patent For Peer-To-Peer DRM

An anonymous reader writes "Music DRM might not be as dead as previously thought. InformationWeek reports that Microsoft has been awarded a digital-rights management patent for a distributed DRM system that works over peer-to-peer networks and uses encrypted public and private keys as the licensing mechanism. The author claims that patent number 7,594,275, entitled simply 'Digital rights management system,' is significant because, while centralized music stores like iTunes don't use DRM anymore, the Microsoft patent makes it possible that peer-to-peer networks could reemerge in the future as a viable, albeit protected, source of content."

1 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. End software patents!!! by rts008 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Let me be the first to say:
    This sucks donkey balls!

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    Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti