On the Superdistribution of Digital Goods

Business models involving buyers of digital goods in the distribution process are called superdistribution schemes. We review the state-of-the art of research and application of superdistribution and propose a systematic approach to market mechanisms using superdistribution and technical system architectures supporting it. The limiting conditions on such markets are of economic, legal, technical, and psychological nature. Large scale applications of superdistribution such as video-on-demand and multimedia over peer-to-peer type networks pose particular requirements on security and efficiency.