LIMITING DISTRIBUTION OF COPY-PROTECTED MATERIAL TO GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS

摘要

A method and system (200) marks (170) a copy of copy-protected material (202) with a geographic marker based on a geographic region of the source of the copy. Conforming rendering devices are configured to prevent (140) the rendering of copy­ protected material (201) that have geographic markers that differ (120) from the geographic region associated with the rendering device. Any of a variety of techniques are used to determine the geographic location of the rendering device (200), including the geographic location of the rendering device that produces the original copy. Preferably, each copy (202) of the copy-protected material also includes an identifier of the rendering device (200) that produced the copy, and subsequent renderings of copies by the same rendering device are permitted (130) regardless of geographic locale, thereby allowing for the relocation of a consumer's rendering devices and libraries of material.