{
  "patent_number": "US 7877330",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How to Buy Digital Media Once and Get Multiple Formats",
  "original_title": "Method and system for managing access to media files",
  "summary": "A system that lets you pay for a digital file once and download it in different formats from various providers without paying again.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a digital 'master key' system for media. When you buy a song or movie, the system records that you have rights to that content. It then sends an authorization signal to other content providers you didn't buy from directly. This signal tells those providers to let you download the same file in different formats—like MP3, FLAC, or different video resolutions—without you needing to pay for each version individually.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover the actual conversion of file formats (transcoding).",
    "Does not cover systems where the same company handles both the purchase and the file delivery.",
    "Does not cover subscription-based access models where rights are time-limited.",
    "Does not cover physical media purchases (e.g., buying a DVD and getting a digital code)."
  ],
  "filed": "2009-10-19",
  "granted": "2011-01-25",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Amazon Technologies Inc",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/amazon-technologies-inc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Charles Gordon",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/charles-gordon"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hilliard B. Siegel",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/hilliard-b-siegel"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 12,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "software",
    "ecommerce",
    "telecommunications"
  ],
  "abstract": "Access to selected content in different file formats can be managed by conducting, in a single purchase transaction, a user purchase of access rights that allow a user to acquire multiple copies of the same selected content in media files having different file formats. An authorization signal is communicated to a content provider or multiple content providers who did not conduct the purchase transaction. The authorization signal contains information that allows the content provider or the multiple content providers to authorize the user to acquire multiple copies of the same selected content in different file formats without requiring the user to conduct multiple transactions. Each copy of the selected content acquired from a content provider is in a media file having a different file format.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7877330/kindle-e-reader",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7877330/kindle-e-reader/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US7877330",
  "relatedPatents": []
}