VERIFYING THE OWNERSHIP OF AN OWNER'S AUTHORITY IN TERMS OF PRODUCT AND SERVICE

The present invention provides an apparatus for verifying the authority of an owner, in terms of an identifier of a product, the first verification information for verifying the authority held at a terminal for an owner with the authority involving the product, and the second verification information for verifying the authority concerning the identifier of the product stored in a product database. The apparatus comprises means for receiving the identifier and the first verification information, means for acquiring the second verification information from the product DB, and means for determining whether or not there is the authority from the first verification information and the second verification information. A hash value acquired from a one-way hash function is employed as a verification key of the verification information.