US Patent 7801821 Flexible licensing architecture for licensing digital application

An application includes a plurality of features. A transaction is engaged with a retailer to obtain a product license corresponding to the application. The product license defines at least one feature of the application that may be employed. A base copy of the application is obtained from a distributor and is actuated. A use license corresponding to the product license is acquired from a licensor by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, where the use license includes feature policy granting rights to employ each feature defined in the product license.