The US Patent Office has granted Liquid Audio a patent for its copy protection technology used with consumer devices, such as portable music players. The streaming media company describes its invention as providing “a digital rights system for consumer devices that enables the playback of multimedia while protecting and enforcing the rights of content owners.”

This new patent is a component of Liquid Audio's Secure Portable Player Platform (SP3), a licensable technology that enables consumer electronics companies and chipset manufacturers to create portable devices that playback digital audio in accordance with the rights and business rules of content owners.

According to the company, its SP3 technology provides a digital rights management (DRM) system that allows for authorised playback of digital content on either internal or external memory; sharing of content between authorised playback systems; unauthorised tampering of content meta data; and relocation and renewal of security keys on a device. Companies currently utilising SP3 include ARM, AIWA, Cirrus Logic, Hitachi, I-O Data, Mpuls3, Palm, Sanyo, TDK and Texas Instruments.

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