WO2001055920A2 - Procedure and system for renting and/or selling products, first of all products under copyright protection - Google Patents

Description

PROCEDURE AND SYSTEM FOR RENTING AND/OR SELLING PRODUCTS, FIRST OF ALL PRODUCTS UNDER COPYRIGHT PROTECTION

The invention relates to a procedure and system for renting and/or selling products, first of all products under copyright protection, especially for computer technology and/or entertainment electronic use

With respect to the selling of a given, practically newly produced product, first of all a product under copyright protection a difficult marketing chain has been built all over the world A significant period of time, often years, are needed for a product to spread in a really wide area, on continents and countries far away from each other Usually in practice a new product can be obtained by purchasing first of all, and then, usually after a long period of time, using a long commercial chain again, the given product also gets to rental networks where the clients can obtain it temporarily, for a given period of time, paying only a fraction of the original price of the product

Before the existence of computer networks the renting and leasing of "information" - the definition of information is interpreted in wide sense here - actually meant the renting of the data carrier carrying the information

The oldest - hundreds of years old - example of this is information spread in books, where the information can be obtained through the book, as the data carrier, itself Moreover, the data carrier itself could be identified with the information. The library lends the book and wants back the book it lent

This type of lending principle is also valid with respect to all other renting procedures (renting bicycles, cars, etc )

You rent a product and you must take back the same product you rented

If the party providing the product has no other copies of the given products, it cannot lend the product again until a copy (maybe the only copy) is given back by a client

The renting principle used so far is general, and in respect of the main elements of the principle it does not matter at all whether you rent a pedalo or a videotape with a film on it

The rental of new, technology-based data carriers - such as records, cassettes, video tapes, CD-s DVD-s, etc - is based on the same principle The data carrier is rented and not the information

The Internet has accelerated the flow of the above widely interpreted information, making unbelievable amounts of information accessible to anyone As a result of this the demand of borrowing games, films, music, etc Has also increased However, the method of lending has not changed, and so a small fraction of the Internet's „wide" amount of information cannot be borrowed

There is a special way of borrowing information real time search in the databases With respect to the analogy of the library - this is the reading room of the Internet. Users can have access to the information while they are searching, reading, playing, etc in the given database for a real period of time

However, the method of borrowing used so far does not solve several problems For example you cannot download the information, for example a film in order to watch it later, because your home movie-system provides a better picture and sound than a computer. It is not possible like it is not possible to take home a book from a library's reading room.

The economic basis of renting is that the clients cannot obtain the product finally, so they do not pay the purchase price, only a small part of it the rental price.

The rental shop rents out the product to the clients in return of a rental fee, for a given period, for appropriate use. The basic element of renting is that after the rental time has expired, rented product is taken back by the rental shop

The rental shop can only rent out a product to a new client, if it is not rented by another client

So far the condition of being able to rent out a product was that the clients give back the product rented by them and the rental shop takes the product back

The clients must always give back the product, and the rental shop must always take it back so that the given product can be rented out to a new client again

The rental shop cannot store an infinite amount of copies of any of its products, so it can happen that the renting is not possible, the clients cannot rent the product they want, because all its copies have been rented out to other clients In this case the renting is not successful

This principle of renting is also valid in respect of non real time information rental used today, where the date of renting and the use of the product is separated

A new client can rent a given film (more precisely a videotape, DVD, etc containing a given film) from a videofilm rental shop, only if it has not been rented by someone else for the same period, practically if the given film (more precisely a videotape, DVD, etc containing a given film) is in the videofilm rental shop

The aim of the invention is to overcome the disadvantageous characteristics of the already known solutions and to create a technical solution as a result of which the renting and/or selling of products, first of all products under copyright protection, to the clients can be realised

Today, due to the hardware and software possibilities of computer technology a large amount of information interpreted by computer technology can be sent and received at a great speed In the present description, by product, first of all products under copyright protection, 1 mean a technical solution which can be recorded in an analogue and/or digital way, that is it can be converted into a series of such signals Regarding the product itself, first of all a product under copyright protection, as a series of analogue and/or digital signals makes it possible to separate physically the product itself and the data carrier containing the product

The different media tools, e g . magnetic tape, optical disc, etc are all tools with which words, music, etc first of all under copyright protection can be recorded The same is valid in connection with multimedia tools on which beside the audio information there are also video and/or digital data If these tools need to be sent to somewhere at a great distance, such as the other side of the Earth, it takes a long time and it is relatively expensive, while there is a danger of the tools getting damaged International patents No PCT/IP93/01377 describes a solution where instead of the physical transportation of the multimedia tools only the multimedia information is forwarded to the target station where the information is recorded again on a multimedia tool.

So the presently known solution is sending products, first of all products under copyright protection such as copyrighted products, on the Internet, in the form of a large number of series of signals that can be handled with computer technology methods

In accordance with this the selling of a copyrighted product can also be realised by downloading the product from the right database containing the copyrighted product, with the copyright owner's approval It is publicly known that in the case of downloading a copyrighted product the product is copied from the database containing the copyrighted product, onto an appropriate data carrier provided and possessed by the client (According to the present practice generally onto a built-in hard disc drive)

The copyrighted product remains in the original database, and a copy of it is recorded finally onto the client's data carrier

The copyrighted product must be copied from a database onto an appropriate data carrier, and then it must be taken back from there. The expression „taking back" here is not to be meant in the strict sense, as the product existed in the given database before, so the aim of taking back is not to make the product accessible again in the given database.

The aim of taking back is that the product does not remain at the client after the period of rental has expired, as the client only paid the rental fee and not the purchase price of the product.

In short the new principle is that after the period of rental has expired the product must be taken away and no taken back from the client. Above it has been pointed out that if the product is regarded as a series of analogue and/or digital signals, then it is possible to separate the product itself from the data carrier containing the product. So in the present case when the product is taken away it does not necessarily mean that the data carrier is taken away, too!

The product must be taken away from the client so that for example the rental shop deletes the copyrighted product from the data carrier containing the product.

However, in computer technology deleting means that a signal is sent to the right library of the given data carrier. In the case of deleting something from the data carrier in the traditional way, using the right technology the information can be read from the data carrier again, as it remains there unchanged. Here this method of deleting cannot be used, as in this case a felonious client could obtain a copy of the copyrighted product only by paying the rental price. This is unacceptable.

In order to prevent this, perfectly precise overwriting is to be used. It means that the area occupied by the copyrighted product on the data carrier is to be overwritten with new information. The overwriting can take place with another copyrighted product or with a different type of not copyrighted product such as an advertisement. In the previous case another product is rented, while in the latter case no new product is rented.

However, the information content of the data carrier can be easily manipulated, it is enough just to rename the copyrighted product in the data carrier's library, and perfect overwriting becomes impossible after this In order to prevent this the exact place on the data earner (block numbers, sector numbers, etc ) is to be stored in the rental shop's database established for this purpose, and with the help of such data perfect overwriting, that is the taking away, of the product is realised

However, another problem is how the rental shop can identify the copyrighted product when taking it back, that is how they know which one of all the downloaded copies is the given copyrighted product (On is exactly like the other ) A practical solution for this would be a copyrighted product identifying code provided by the rental shop, which could be downloaded onto the client's data carrier at the same time as the copyrighted product This copyrighted product identifying code is also stored by the rental shop with the information relating to the data earner (sector number, etc ) When the copyrighted product is brought back on the data carrier, on the basis of the code the rental shop recognises the product, and on the basis of the information relating to the data carrier's library, after carrying out the appropriate checking, it can start the overwnting Presently this is the pnncφle of the traditional computer technology solution, with a few supplements, of course

However, the solution as a rental system is not satisfactory, as it is enough to copy the copyrighted product identifying code and the given structure of the library on an empty data earner, and the rental shop can be deceived One does not need to have special computer technology skills to be able to do this

If the rental shop, when taking back the data earner, compares the information stored on the data carrier to the information found in its own data base, will find that both the individual code of the copyrighted product and the structure of the given part of the library are the same It will overwrite the part determined by the sector numbers on the empty data earner And it means that the copyrighted product will remain on the data carrier onto which it was actually downloaded, that is the felonious clients can obtain the ownership of the given copyrighted product for the rental price, in a way that they do not even need to copy the copyrighted product (illegally) For this reason I found that this solution was not effective 1 realised that the set aim can be realised in the most advantageous way, if not the product itself, but the data carrier is provided with an identifier, more precisely an individual identifier only charactenstic of the given data carrier So the identifier would be different in the case of each data earner

Each time a data carrier is rented it must have a special denotation, an individual identifier that is not entered subsequently for the purpose of identifying, but recorded on the data earner during production, in the factory, in a way that it cannot be changed Rental can take place only on data earners provided with such individual identifiers

So the invention relates to a procedure for renting and/or selling products, first of all products under copynght protection, to clients, in the course of which the products are recorded and stored in an analogue and/or digital form At the clients' request the chosen products are rented out for them in return of a rental fee The essence of the procedure is that when requested by the clients, the chosen products are forwarded to them practically in the form of a series of analogue and/or digital signals, or, if necessary, they are converted, played and/or provided for the client recorded on data earners provided with a factory installed individual identifier, for a given penod and/or for final use

In order to avoid misuse, the individual identifiers are recorded on the data earners dunng production, in the factory, in a way that they cannot be changed For example the individual identifiers are recorded on the data earner digitally so that they cannot be overwritten

When the clients are provided with the chosen products, both on the storing place and on the data earners the circumstances of the handing over are recorded, such as the type of the products (music, film, game, etc ), their recognisable data, the date of recording onto the data earners, the type of providing - rental and/or selling -, the deadline of redemption, the amount paid by the client and, if the product in question is under copynght protection, the data of the party entitled The data carriers provided with factory-installed individual identifiers, brought back by the clients before the deadline are checked - the data previously recorded on the storing place are compared to the data recorded by the rental shop on the data carriers just brought back -, and then the area occupied on the data carriers by the products chosen by the clients, recorded by the rental shop is overwritten The overwriting can take place by downloading the products newly chosen by the clients onto the areas of the data carriers occupied by the products rented earlier, or practically advertisements can also be downloaded

Furthermore, the invention relates to a system - favourably a software, hardware system connected or not connected to a network -, for playing and/or renting and/or selling products, first of all products under copyright protection, stored in an analogue and/or digital form, which system has got units favourably allocated directly to the clients, connected directly or indirectly to the rental configuration equipped with one or more central computers containing the database of the products The system is established in a way that the units allocated to the clients and/or the commercial equipment - that can be practically used by several clients - connected directly or indirectly to the configuration equipped with one or more central computers, are provided with one or more partial units used for the temporary and/or final recording of the products stored in an analogue and/or digital form, suitable for writing and/or reading data carriers provided with factory-installed individual identifiers, and/or with player partial units.

Practically the system contains several rental configurations mutually connected to each other.

In the case of a favourably solution of the system, the units allocated to the clients are made as real time service providing units

In the case of a further favourable solution of the system according to the invention the commercial equipment - that can be practically used by several clients - is made as real time service providing units The individual identifiers are recorded on the data carriers provided with factory- installed individual identifiers in a way that they cannot be changed. In a favourable case the individual identifier is recorded on the data carrier digitally, preferably in a way that it cannot be overwritten.

As an example, a possible solution of the system according to the invention is described in detail in the drawing below, where

figure 1 shows the system schematically.

Figure 1 shows a system according to the invention, for renting and/or selling products, first of all products under copyright protection, stored in an analogue and/or digital form, which system has got units E favourably allocated directly to the clients, connected directly or indirectly to the rental configuration K equipped with one or more central CPU computers containing the database S of the products The units E allocated to the clients and/or the commercial equipment B - that can be practically used by several clients - connected directly or indirectly to the rental configuration K equipped with one or more central CPU computers, are provided with one or more partial units WR used for the temporary and/or final recording of the products stored in an analogue and/or digital form, suitable for writing and/or reading data carriers A provided with factory-installed individual identifiers M, and/or with player partial units L

According to the figure, practically the system contains several rental configurations K which are mutually connected to each other. In a favourable solution of the system the units allocated to the clients are made as real time service providing units

In the case of a further favourable solution of the system according to the invention the commercial equipment B - that can be practically used by several clients - is made as real time service providing units. In the present case, real time means that the given equipment is a configuration suitable for the appropriate real time display of one or more types of the products, first of all products under copyright protection, and their characteristics requested by the client, making the appropriate use of the product possible This equipment, with the ordinarv solution of computer technology and entertaining electronics, provide the client with real time access to the products, practically with on-line operation

Below the detailed operation of the system according to the invention is described

The process operates both in the case of an ordinary unit E that can connect to the Internet, is allocated to clients, equipped with a partial unit WR suitable for wπting and reading the nght data carriers A, practically a computer, or a commercial equipment B specialised for this purpose, connected to the Internet or to another local network not connected to the Internet, or not connected to any network

The main point is that unit E and/or the commercial equipment B is connected to the database S of the products under copyright protection This connection can be through the Internet or through a network independent from the Internet or it can be without any network (online or offline)

In the case of a unit E not for commercial purposes the offline connection cannot be realised, whereas commercial equipment B may have its own built-in store, but it can only be a system suitable for storing products, first of all products under copynght protection, of a restricted number and extent Databases S with online connection, mainly the ones which have access to the Internet, have more possibilities In this case the number of the used databases S does not need to be determined, any database S is accessible through the unit E which can be and has connected to the given system For this reason the number of products, first of all legally protected products, and the amount of other information that can be downloaded is practically infinite

The first step is that the client gets in contact with the K rental shop In the case of a K rental shop connected to a network it can be done through the client's own unit E (computer) or through a commercial equipment B made for this purpose The client chooses the type of the legally protected product (game, film, etc ) (It means carrying out a search in the database S for one or more products, e g legally protected products )

The client selects a product database S (or databases), e g with one of the presently common database searching programs or with a searching program developed especially for this purpose

The clients must be informed whether a given product can only be purchased or it can also be rented On the basis of this the clients can decide whether they want to buy or rent the given product

On the basis of the clients' decision they must be informed about the amount of the purchase price and the rental fee The purchase price and the rental fee are determined on the basis of business considerations, they may depend on the rental period, or allowances may also be made The details are included in the deadline and rental fee database

The next step is that the clients place their own data carrier A into the partial unit WR, maybe found in the unit E, which can write and read the data carrier A in the usual way, with which it is possible to write on the data carrier A

If the clients want to rent something, they must have a data carrier A provided with an individual identifier M, which is checked by the writing and reading partial unit WR If the data carrier A is not equipped with an individual identifier M, them the clients are warned to replace the data carrier A, and if this does not happen, the running operation is interrupted

If the data carrier A is equipped with an individual identifier M, then it must be checked whether it is still allowed to download a product, e g a legally protected product, onto the given data carrier A The rental shop K makes a decision on this on the basis of the appropriate information of its own database S and/or a database used jointly with another rental shop K If downloading is not allowed, that is no product, e g legally protected product, can be downloaded on the data carrier A provided with an individual identifier, the running operation is interrupted If downloading is allowed, then the next step is that a contract is concluded with the clients in which the clients undertake to observe the copyrights in connection with the copyrighted product in the course of using the product If the clients do not agree with the contract, they cannot be provided with the copyrighted product, so the running operation is interrupted

If the data carrier is equipped with an individual identifier M and it is allowed to download a copyrighted product onto it, then the clients are requested to pay The clients are expected to pay as if they intended to buy the copyrighted product Tin the case of renting the difference between the purchase price and the rental fee is returned to the clients after they have returned the copyrighted product and it has been overwritten on their data carrier

The actual settlement of the payment can take place with any of the payment methods used in today's practice, any payment organising software is suitable, with supplements These programs can be supplemented, because in the case of rental the clients need to be returned the difference between the purchase price and the rental fee For this reason, the program organising payment must be able to transfer money to the client and not only receive money from the client So the financial settlements have two directions, and in this they differ from the general practice of selling products on the Internet, used so far, and for this reason the programs written for this purpose need to be supplemented

Without payment the copyrighted product cannot be downloaded, and the running operation will be interrupted

If payment has taken place in order, the data of the requested copyrighted product and the copyright owner is recorded on the data carrier A provided with an individual identifier M Howeveer, besides all this, practically the following information relating to rental should also be stated on the client's data carrier A provided with an individual identifier M the identifier of the person who sold/rented out the copyrighted product, the individual identifier of the copyrighted product, the type of the copyrighted product (e g music, film, game, etc ), the date and time when the copyrighted product is saved on the data carrier, whether the product was given out for the purpose of rental or purchasing, the deadline of redemption (there is no redemption in the case of purchasing, in this case the date of saving is repeated), the amount paid by the client, the data of the copyright owner, other (e.g the amount of allowances, etc )

The above information is to be recorded not only on the client's data carrier A provided with an individual identifier M, but the rental shop K carrying out the selling and/or renting out must also make enter a record (e g create a new file) in the database S of the rental shop K on the given transaction

Then the database of the data carriers A with the same individual identifier M must be actualised Here the individual identifier M of the data carriers A is stated, and it also states how many downloads have taken place on the given data carrier A with an individual code number

In the case of being offline the rental shop K can use a part of the same data carrier A with a surface that can be written on once or several times, and the part of this data carrier A that can be written on once is the own database of the data carrier A with an individual identifier M. This individual database is used by the offline rental shop K for the same purpose and in the same way as an online one The difference between the two databases is that the database stored on the data carrier A registers the number of downloads of only one data carrier A For this reason the rental shop K must record new downloads on this area

When online downloading takes place, but the client uses a surface that can be written on once and several times on the same data carrier A, then a new record must be made in the data carrier's A database with an individual identifying code, saying that a new downloading has taken place

Then the usual checks need to be carried out

Then the client must be provided with the possibility to request and receive a poster, disc cover, etc with the purchased/rented copyrighted product Information on this is contained in the database of printable products which is a part of the database S The production of such (printable, drawable, photocopyable) accompanying products takes place on a pnnter which may be part of the commercial equipment B This is subject to business policy considerations In the case of non-commercial units E it is not compulsory either to have a pnnter, it is optional It is a question of business policy considerations whether the price of the printed materials is included in the actual pnce or the clients must pay for them separately If it is included, then it can be sorted out by the payment organising program described above, either in the present or an earlier phase of the rental

If requested, in the case of purchase an invoice can also be pnnted out in the pnnting phase

The product providing operation ends here

In the following the copynght fees of the copynghted product are to be accounted on the basis of the appropnate records made in the database of the copynght fees, which is also a part of the database S, and they should be registered and transferred

Below the taking back of the rented out data earners A already containing the product, first of all legally protected product, is descnbed The first step is that the client gets in contact with the rental shop K In the case of a K rental shop connected to a network it can be done through the client's own unit E (computer) or through a commercial equipment B made for this purpose If the rental shop K is not connected to a network, then the client can only redeem the copyrighted product at the commercial equipment B which takes it back

After getting into contact the clients tell the rental shop K that they intend to return a copyrighted product they rented earlier

Then at the request of the rental shop K the clients places the data carrier A on which the copyrighted product intended to return can be found into the partial unit WR writing and reading as usual On the data carrier A the rental shop K reads the identifier of the rental shop K that wrote the copyrighted product onto the data carrier A. In the case of a rental system connected to a network any rental shop K in connection with the network can take back the rented product The rental shop's K own identifying signal clearly identifies the given rental shop K In the case of an individual rental shop K not connected to a network it can be seen on the basis of the identifying signal of the rental shop K whether it was the one that rented out the product and whether it can carry out the redemption. Any rented copyrighted product can be redeemed with the rental shop K of which it has an agreement relating to this. (In the case of an offline shop it is difficult, but it can be solved )

After the rental system has been identified on the basis of the rental shop's K identifying signal, the given rental system examines the individual identifying code M of the client's data carrier with an individual identifying code M and the information stored on this data carrier A, and then compares them to the data found in the rental shop's K own database S. If in the course of the comparison it is found that the data is identical, the copyrighted product can be taken back. If the data is not identical, the client must be warned to check the data carrier A, and the running operation must be interrupted

The next step is that the rental fee to be paid by the client is determined as well as the amount of money due back to the client. The rental shop K informs the client about it on the basis of its own deadline and rental fee database

Then comes the selection of an advertisement that suits the identifying code of the copyrighted product.

The rental shop K selects the right type of information from the advertisement database - which is also a part of the database S - either in co-operation with the client or without the client. After selecting an advertisement it must be written onto the given data carrier A. The exact area where the information deriving from the advertisement database is to be entered is determined on the basis of the data stored in the rental database, relating to the data carrying area belonging to the given data carrier A and the given copyrighted product (block, sector, etc. data), which determines the area of the data carrier A with an individual identifier M on which the copyrighted product can be downloaded.

After the information deriving from the advertisement database is written onto the right place of the data carrier A, supplementary information can also be written onto the data carrier A. The advertisement database is meant in a wide sense here, so it can contain not only advertising materials, but any material to which there is free access and which can be freely downloaded.

The rental database needs to be refreshed, and the file containing the given rental information is supplemented with the data and time of the taking back, according to the individual identifying code M of the data carrier A and the individual identifying code M of the copyrighted product, and with the amount to be paid back to the client.

The copyright fees to be paid after the rental must be counted, favourably on the basis of the database containing the copyright fees, and they must be transferred. (Or they must be registered and then transferred after certain events have taken place, e.g.: the end of the month, reaching a certain amount, etc.).

The clients must be paid the money due back to them. The rental shop warns the clients to give the account number where they want the amount between the purchase price and the rental fee to be transferred

The payment organising software accomplishes the payment.

After carrying out the necessary checking, an invoice is printed out at the client's request

The taking back operation ends here

In the case that the clients bring back the copyrighted product and start a new rental transaction, the process of taking back and rental takes place as described above

If the clients fail to bring back the copyrighted product, then the rental is regarded as purchase, and in connection with this there are no further things to do, the accounting (e g copyright fees) takes place as described above

The procedure and the system according to the invention basically revolutionises the rental and/or selling process of products, first of all legally protected products, known so far As a result of this the date of rental and the date of the appropriate use of the rented product can be separated Making use of the possibilities provided by the Internet, legally protected products can become more known and more used by the clients Due to the system for example clients living in Budapest, without having to leave home, can rent a copyrighted product from Tokyo, or they can obtain a Mozart CD issued in a small number of copies

A practically infinite number of products, first of all legally protected products, can meet a practically infinite number of consumers (clients) due to this solution My solution can be rather favourable for the right owners of legally protected products, such as copyrighted products, because they can win new clients through rentals according to the invention, as renting a product is significantly cheaper than purchasing it It is another advantage, if at least certain elements of the system are provided with an individual signal saying that they are members of this system.

Claims

Claims:

1 Procedure for renting and/or selling products, first of all products under copyright protection, to clients, in the course of which the products are recorded and stored in an analogue and/or digital form, at the clients' request the chosen products are rented out for them in return of a rental fee, characterised by that the chosen products, when requested by the clients, are forwarded to them practically in the form of a series of analogue and/or digital signals, or, if necessary, they are converted, played and/or provided for the client recorded on data carriers provided with a factory installed individual identifier, for a given period and/or for final use

2 Procedure as in claim 1 , characterised by that the individual identifiers are recorded on the data carriers in a way that they cannot be changed

3 Procedure as in claim 1 or 2, characterised by that the individual identifier is recorded on the data carrier digitally, favourably in a way that it cannot be overwntten

4 Procedure as in any of claims 1 to 3, characterised by that in the course of the process of providing the products the circumstances of the providing process are recorded on the storing place and/or on the data earners

5 Procedure as in any of claims 1 to 4, characterised by that the data earners brought back by the clients before the deadline, provided with factory- installed individual identifiers are checked, and the area occupied by the products selected earlier by the clients recorded by the rental shop on the data earners is overwntten

6 Procedure as in claim 5, characterised by that the overwnting takes place by downloading products newly selected by the clients onto the areas of the data carriers occupied by the products rented earlier

Procedure as in claim 5, characterised by that the overwriting takes place by downloading freeware or advertising materials onto the areas of the data carriers occupied by the products rented earlier

System for renting and/or selling products, first of all products under copyright protection, stored in an analogue and/or digital form, which system has got units favourably allocated directly to the clients, connected directly or indirectly to the rental configuration equipped with one or more central computers containing the database of the products, characterised by that the units E allocated to the clients and/or the commercial equipment B - that can be practically used by several clients - connected directly or indirectly to the configuration equipped with one or more central computers (CPU), are provided with one or more partial units WR used for the temporary and/or final recording of the products stored in an analogue and/or digital form, suitable for writing and/or reading data carriers A provided with factory- installed individual identifiers M, and/or with player partial units L

System as in claim 8, characterised by that it practically contains several configurations mutually connected to each other

System as in claim 8 or 9, characterised by that the units E allocated to the clients are made as real time service providing units

System as in any of claims 8 to 10, characterised by that the commercial equipment B - that can be practically used by several clients - is made as real time service providing equipment

System as in any of claims 8 to 1 1, characterised by that the individual identifiers M are recorded on the data carriers A provided with factory- installed individual identifiers M in a way that they cannot be changed

System as in claim 12, characterised by that the individual identifier M is recorded on the data carrier A digitally, favourably in a way that it cannot be overwritten

System as in any of claims 8 to 13, characterised by that the data carriers A provided with factory-installed individual identifiers M are also provided with a sign saying „contains a copyrighted product" or with the implied possibility of putting such a sign on them

System as in any of claims 8 to 14, characterised by that at least certain elements of the system are provided with a separate individual sign.