Try before you buy software distribution and marketing system

United States Patent [w]

Ronning

[n] Patent Number: [45] Date of Patent:

5,907,617

May 25,1999

[54] TRY BEFORE YOU BUY SOFTWARE

DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING SYSTEM

[75] Inventor: Joel A. Ronning, Edina, Minn.

[73] Assignee: Digital River, Inc., Edina, Minn.

[21] Appl. No.: 08/892,306 [22] Filed: Jul. 14, 1997

Related U.S. Application Data

[63] Continuation of application No. 08/488,195, Jun. 7, 1995, abandoned.

[51] Int. Cl.s H04L 9/00; G06F 17/60

[52] U.S. CI 380/4; 380/49; 380/25;

395/186; 705/27

[58] Field of Search 380/4, 25, 49;

340/825.31, 825.34; 395/186, 187.01, 188.01;

705/26, 27

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Prosise, J., PC Magazine—Dos 5 Techniques and Utilities, Ziff-Davis Press, Emeryville, CA 94608: 82-85 (1991). Prosise, Jeff, "PC Magazine DOS 5-Techniques and Utilities", pp. 365-367, Ziff-Davis Press, PC Magaizine, Emeryville, California, 1991.

Amanda Mitchell, "Chicago Features Spark Online Distribution," Computer Reseller News, (Aug. 1994), p. 101. "Testdrive Founder/CEO Resigns to Form New Info Highway Company," Business Wire, (Jun. 1994), Cupertino, CA. Don Clark, "Multimedia: Patents May Raise Price of Information Highway," The Wall Street Journal, (Nov. 1993). Walter S. Mossberg, "Personal Technology," The Wall Street Journal, (Dec. 1993).

"Try and Buy on CD-ROM," Marketing Computers, (Oct. 1993), p. 12.

"Multimedia World," Advertising Age, (Aug. 1993), p. 23. File History of U.S. Patent No. 4,658,093, issued Apr. 14, 1987.

File History of U.S. Patent No. 4,740,890, issued Apr. 26, 1988.

[56] References Cited

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A computer-based system is provided for demonstrating software programs to a potential purchaser and for gathering marketing information related to the demonstration of the programs. The system enables the software programs for execution upon selection by a user, and allows the user to subsequently operate or sample the selected software program. The system maintains the selected software program in a locked state to prevent unauthorized duplication of the selected software program, and selectively disables the sampling, such as when the user completes the sampling or if the system detects that the user is attempting to copy the sampled application. A code is generated that identifies one or more particular software programs and contains information relating to sampling of the particular software programs by the user, such as which applications were sampled and how many times they were sampled.

27 Claims, 22 Drawing Sheets

Page 2

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