IBM's US patent application 20160132897 titled COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT PREVENTION

IBM's patent application titled COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT PREVENTION has an abstract:


In an approach for determining printability of an electronic file, a computer electronically receives a file for printing. The computer parses the file for one or more of text, images, and formatting indicative of potential copyrighted material. The computer, in response to identifying any text, images, or formatting indicative of potential copyrighted material, identifies potential copyrighted material within the file. The computer determines whether the file may be printed based, at least in part, on the identified potential copyrighted material. In another approach for determining printability of an electronic document, a computer electronically receives a document for printing. The computer locates attributes associated with the document and stored in a separate database, which includes one or more of the following: ownership, licensing information, printability, and number of prints allowed. The computer determines the document is printable based on the attributes and prints the document



and first published claims


1. A method for determining printability of an electronic file, the method comprising: electronically receiving a file for printing; parsing the file for one or more of text, images, and formatting indicative of potential copyrighted material; responsive to identifying any text, images, or formatting indicative of potential copyrighted material, identifying, by one or more computer processors, potential copyrighted material within the file; and determining, by one or more computer processors, whether the file may be printed based, at least in part, on the identified potential copyrighted material.


2. The method of claim 1, wherein text indicative of copyrighted material include keywords, ISBN numbers, and ISSN numbers; wherein images indicative of copyrighted material include copyright symbols and barcodes; and wherein formatting indicative of copyrighted material includes use of stanza, drop cap based print, and text in columns.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the potential copyrighted material within the file comprises, based on location within the file of the identified text, images, or formatting indicative of potential copyrighted material, selecting at least one portion of the file corresponding to the location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the file may be printed based, at least in part, on the identified potential copyrighted material comprises: matching at least a portion of the identified potential copyrighted material to approved material, wherein approved material comprises one or both of: material to which a copyright or license is owned by a designated entity and material which has been designated as printable.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the file may be printed based, at least in part, on the identified potential copyrighted material comprises: searching one or more online resources for the potential copyrighted material; and responsive to failing to match the potential copyrighted material to existing material, determining that the file is printable.





From US 20160132897, for which the inventors are listed as being from India



Eda; Sasikanth; (Andhra Pradesh, IN) ; Ghuge; Deepak R.; (Ahmednagar, IN) ; Puvvala; Sridhar; (Pune, IN) ; Shiraguppi; Riyazahamad M.; (Pune, IN)



The associated US case was filed April 15, 2015.

Note also published US application 20160132276 with first published claims

12. A method for determining printability of an electronic document, the method comprising: electronically receiving a document for printing; locating attributes associated with the document and stored in a separate database, wherein the attributes include one or more of the following: ownership, licensing information, printability, and number of prints allowed; determining that the document is printable based on the attributes; and printing the document.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein locating the attributes associated with the document comprises matching one or more attributes of a set of attributes associated with the document with embedded attributes of the document, including one or more of: document title, version number, date of creation, and text.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein determining that the document is printable comprises at least one of the following: determining that the printability attribute indicates that the document in printable; determining that the ownership attribute indicates that the document is owned by a designated acceptable entity; and determining that the licensing information attribute indicates the document is licensed by a designated acceptable entity.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining that the document is printable further comprises: determining that the number of prints allowed is greater than zero.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising, subsequent to printing the document, reducing the number of prints allowed by one.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising: subsequent to determining that the document is printable based on the attributes, determining that a user associated with sending the document for printing is authorized to print.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein authorized users are indicated by one or more additional attributes associated with the document.