Step 806 evaluates whether C1 contains V=><A1, OWNED> in its component directory, where A1 is an activation created by C1 for component V. In this case, C1 has already created an activation for component V. Thus, cluster C1 responds to cluster C0 that it already owns an activation of component V by sending the cluster a C0 ACTIVATION_RESPONSE(FAILED, A1) message at step 810, where A1 represents the activation ID.

If not owned, step 808 evaluates whether cluster C1 contains V=><A1, DOUBTFUL> in its component directory. This case is similar to the case in which C1 contains an activation in state OWNED. In this situation, C1 has an activation (A1) for component V, but C1's active multi-cluster was a subset of the total multi-cluster when C1 created activation A1. If doubtful, the cluster C1 similarly responds with ACTIVATION_RESPONSE(FAILED, A1) at step 810.

If the state is neither owned nor doubtful, step 812 evaluates whether cluster C1 contains V=><A1, REQUESTED_OWNERSHIP> in C1's component directory. In this case, C0 and C1 are both racing to activate component V; recall via step 702 of FIG. 7 that prior to sending out an ACTIVATION_REQUEST message, C0 inserted an entry V=><A0, REQUESTED_OWNERSHIP> in its component directory. Also note that because C1 is also requesting ownership, C0 is similarly running the response portion of the protocol as exemplified in FIG. 8.