Creating rules for the administration of end-user license agreements

• US 20070083926A1
• Filed: 10/07/2005
• Published: 04/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Eisenhauer, Daniel, Watson, Thomas, Burkhart, Michael, Schumacher, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 8,635,162 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level

Abstract

Exemplary methods, systems, and products are described for creating rules for the administration of end-user license agreements (‘EULAs’). Creating rules for the administration of end-user license agreements is accomplished by identifying, from historical license data, a license administration pattern. A license administration rule is then created in dependence upon the license administration pattern. Identifying a license administration pattern from historical license data may include data mining a collection of accepted EULAs and data mining a collection of rejected EULAs.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for creating rules for the administration of end-user license agreements, the method comprising:

identifying, from historical license data, a license administration pattern; and

creating, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, a license administration rule.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying, from historical license data, a license administration pattern further comprises data mining a collection of accepted EULAs.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying, from historical license data, a license administration pattern further comprises data mining a collection of rejected EULAs.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein creating, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, a license administration rule further comprises:

defining, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, one or more conditions for accepting an EULA.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising associating an action with the one or more conditions.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein creating in dependence upon the license administration pattern a license administration rule further comprises:

defining, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, one or more conditions for rejecting an EULA.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising associating an action with the one or more conditions.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether one or more new license administration rules supersede one or more old license administration rules.

9. A system for creating rules for the administration of end-user license agreements, the system comprising at least one computer processor, at least one computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, and computer program instructions disposed within the computer memory capable of:

identifying, from historical license data, a license administration pattern; and

creating, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, a license administration rule.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the computer memory also has disposed within it computer program instructions capable of data mining a collection of accepted EULAs.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the computer memory also has disposed within it computer program instructions capable of data mining a collection of rejected EULAs.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the computer memory also has disposed within it computer program instructions capable of:

defining, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, one or more conditions for accepting an EULA; and

associating an action with the one or more conditions.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the computer memory also has disposed within it computer program instructions capable of:

defining, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, one or more conditions for rejecting an EULA; and

associating an action with the one or more conditions.

14. A computer program product for creating rules for the administration of end-user license agreements, the computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium, the computer program product comprising:

computer program instructions for identifying, from historical license data, a license administration pattern; and

computer program instructions for creating, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, a license administration rule.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the computer-readable medium comprises a recordable medium.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the computer-readable medium comprises a transmission medium.

17. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein computer program instructions for identifying, from historical license data, a license administration pattern further comprise computer program instructions for data mining a collection of accepted EULAs.

18. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein computer program instructions for identifying, from historical license data, a license administration pattern further comprise computer program instructions for data mining a collection of rejected EULAs.

19. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein computer program instructions for creating, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, a license administration rule further comprise:

computer program instructions for defining, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, one or more conditions for accepting an EULA; and

computer program instructions for associating an action with the one or more conditions.

20. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein computer program instructions for creating in dependence upon the license administration pattern a license administration rule further comprise:

computer program instructions for defining, in dependence upon the license administration pattern, one or more conditions for rejecting an EULA; and

computer program instructions for associating an action with the one or more conditions.