Intellectual Property Rights, Digital Rights Managements & Copyright

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[edit] Overview

The Wikipedia has an excellent article on Digital Rights Management. In the introduction to the article the following is excerpted as an overview to DRM.

DRM vendors and publishers coined the term digital rights management to refer to the types of technical measures discussed here, applying it only to digital media (and analog media that has been released in digital form). There is a long history of objection on the part of copyright holders (often music distributors or broadcasting companies) to copying technology of any kind. Examples have included player piano rolls (early in the 20th century), audio tape recording (after WWII), video tape recording (eg, in the famous Betamax case in the US), etc.
Digital copying raised concerns to a higher pitch. While analog media loses quality with each copy generation, and often even during normal use, digital media files may be copied an unlimited number of times without degradation in the quality of subsequent copies. Digital Audio Tape, thought by many observers of the time to be a probable replacement / improvement for the audio cassette, was a market failure in part due to opposition on grounds of the potential for piracy. The advent of personal computers, combined with the Internet and popular file sharing tools, have made unauthorized sharing of digital files (often referred to as digital piracy) possible and profitable.
Although technical controls on the reproduction and use of software have been intermittently common since the 1980s, the term DRM has come to primarily mean the use of similar measures to control artistic works or content. Beyond the existing restrictions imposed by copyright law, most DRM schemes are able to enforce additional restrictions at the discretion of the content's publisher, which may or may not be the same entity as the copyright holder.
DRM may be enforced by numerous technologies, such as special modifications to digital media player software. Since such implementations can be reverse engineered, they are not effective as an inherent part of the design. This fact has resulted in a general move toward Mandatory Access Control systems (as opposed to Discretionary access control) wherein usage restrictions are enforced by software buried in hardware, working with software provisions in operating systems, media playing software, or both. However, some implementations of this type of DRM are vulnerable to an additional class of attacks, due to a requirement to run on tamper-resistant hardware. There has been pressure (largely successful) for legislation and regulation creating new offenses (ie, controlling or prohibiting examination of DRM schemes, or possession of any tools (eg, software) which might interfere with the operation of a DRM scheme.) An example is the DMCA.
While digital rights management is most commonly used by the entertainment industry (films and recording), it has found use in other media as well. Many online music stores, such as Apple’s iTunes Store, as well as certain e-books producers, have adopted various DRM schemes in recent times. In recent years, a number of television producers have begun demanding implementation of DRM measures to control access to the content of their shows in connection with the popular TiVo system, and its equivalents.

Within the context of Media On Demand, intellectual property rights and digital rights management are vital to the legal and ethical use of content within an academic institution. Depending on the source of the original media that is compressed and delivered as Media On Demand, different rights are available. These rights center on fair use, educational use, geographic distribution rights, duplication rights, time restrictions for usage, as well as the number of accesses to a media item. Digital rights and re-purposing options are also negotiable. As well, certain rights may be available because user authentication is required to gain access to materials (aka, registered students in official UofU courses).


Digital Rights Management can quickly become a hugely complex web of legalistic conditions and requirements. Depending on one's needs, a few bits of rights data may suffice, or a very granular, highly detailed complex system must be put into play. It is not uncommon for MAM, DAM, and CMS systems to work in tandem with third-party DRM systems because the rights data is so specialized.


There is an open source language supported by the W3C called the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL). Their interpretation of DRM is as follows:

Digital Rights Management (DRM) involves the description, layering, analysis, valuation, trading and monitoring of the rights over an enterprise's tangible and intangible assets. DRM covers the digital management of rights - be they rights in a physical manifestation of a work (eg a book), or be they rights in a digital manifestation of a work (eg an ebook).
Current methods of managing, trading and protecting such assets are inefficient, proprietary, or else often require the information to be wrapped or embedded in a physical format. A key feature of digitally managing rights will be the substantial increase in re-use of digital material on the Internet as well as the increased efficiency for physical material.
The pervasive Internet is changing the nature of distribution of digital media from a passive one way flow (from Publisher to the End User) to a much more interactive cycle where creations are re-used, combined and extended ad infinitum. At all stages, the rights need to be managed and honoured with trusted services. Current DRM technologies include languages for describing the terms and conditions, tracking asset usages by enforcing controlled environments or encoded asset manifestations, and closed architectures for the overall management of rights.

Within the context of Media On Demand, the University of Utah must fold in digital rights management to protect the University's interests as well as to provide a free low of content and media items in an ethical manner, with legal safeguards.


[edit] Guidelines

Quoting again from the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) home page:

The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) is a proposed language for the Digital Rights Management (DRM) community for the standardisation of expressing rights information over content. The ODRL is intended to provide flexible and interoperable mechanisms to support transparent and innovative use of digital resources in publishing, distributing and consuming of electronic publications, digital images, audio and movies, learning objects, computer software and other creations in digital form. The ODRL has no license requirements and is available in the spirit of "open source" software. The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) provides the semantics for DRM expressions in open and trusted environments whilst being agnostic to mechanisms to achieve the secure architectures.

The following information should not be interpreted as "hard and fast" recommendations for the rights managment features and the data that are attached to Media On Demand content. Rather, these are condensations of hundreds of pages of documentation and definitions surrounding digital rights management and the ODRL. Once again, depending on needs, a Media On Demand implementation may require more or less rights data in order to adequately function and serve its consumers.

In managing and tracking compliance with distribution rights, repurposing rights, and expiration dates, the following elements should be considered:

Copyright
creation/publication dates & status, copyright ownerwhip)
Rights Stakeholders
creators, owners, vendors, licensees, and distributors
Permissions
available rights to the licensees, addressing "What end users can do with a media item."
Constraints
limitations on available rights to the licensees, addressing "What end users cannot do with a media item."
Compliance Requirements/Obligations
licensee obligations in order to comply with Permissions and Contraints that are set forth, addressing "What must an end user do to be able to use a media item."
End Users
parties expected to consume or use the media items
Citation
a bibliographic-like attribution associated with the origins of a content or media item

Under most circumstances, digital rights management deals with the big three restrictions placed on the use or re-purposing of media items--

1. Permissions
available rights to the licensees, addressing "What end users can do with a media item."
2. Contraints
limitations on available rights to the licensees, addressing "What end users cannot do with a media item."
3. Compliance Requirements/Obligations
licensee obligations in order to comply with Permissions and Contraints that are set forth, addressing "What must an end user do to be able to use a media item."

Rights are always applied within a context, sometimes unique, often times commonly occurring. Usually associated with all of the categories of rights itemized below are additional metadata fields that are used to specifiy any contextual or custom arrangement.


[edit] PERMISSIONS

PERMISSIONS metadata specifies the actual usages or activities allowed or transferable over or with a media item in its entirety or as an extract harvested from the original. The rights data found within "Permissions" answers the question "What can an end user do with a media item?" The specific metadata fields are listed below as Usage Permissions, Reuse Permissions, and Transfer Permissions. The types of permissions (terms and values) are also identified.

USAGE PERMISSIONS
Indicates a set of methods in which a media item can be consumed.
a. Display--The act of rendering the asset onto a visual device.
b. Execute--The act of executing the asset.
c. Play--The act of rendering the asset into audio/video form.
d. Print--The act of rendering the asset onto paper or hard copy form.
e. Perform--The act of reading, acting, enacting, presenting, or rendering a performance of a media item, public or private.
REUSE PERMISSIONS
Indicates a set of operations in which the Asset (or portions of it) can be re-purposed.
a. Aggregate--The act of using an asset (or parts of it) as part of a composite work or collection.
b. Annotate--The act of adding notations/commentaries to the asset creating a new asset.
c. Excerpt--The act of extracting (replicating) unchanged parts (or all) of the asset for reuse into another asset.
d. Modify--The act of changing parts of the asset creating a new asset.
e. Copy/Download--The act of making a copy of the original media item for subsequent consumption or archiving, often times done via a download over the Internet.
TRANSFER PERMISSIONS
Indicates a set of procedures in which the rights over the media item can be transferred.
a. Give--The act of allowing the asset to be given away (ownership transfer) in perpetuity without exchange of value.
b. Lease--The act of allowing the asset to be made available for a fixed period of time then returned (for exchange of value). During this period, the asset is only available to the lessee.
c. Lend--The act of allowing the asset to be made available for temporary use then returned (without exchange of value). During this period, the asset is only available to the lendee.
d. Sell--The act of allowing the asset to be sold (ownership transfer) in exchange of value.
e. Barter--The act of allowing the media item to be traded (ownership transfer) in exchange for some other commodity of perceived comparable value.


[edit] CONSTRAINTS

CONSTRAINTS metadata articulates the constraints that limit the permissions granted for using a media item. The information found under "Constraints" answers the question "What can't an end user do with a media item?" The specific metadata fields are listed below as Type of Users Allowed, Devices, Bounds, Temporal Constraints, and Target. The types of constraints (terms and values) are also identified.

TYPE OF USERS ALLOWED
Indicates a set of constraints that limits usage to identified user(s).
a. Individual--An identifiable party acting as an individual.
b. Group: A number of identifiable parties acting as a collection of individuals.
DEVICES
Indicates a set of contraints that limits usage to physical devices or systems.
a. CPU--An identifiable computing system with a central processing unit (CPU). Use another metadata field called Context to identify the device.
b. Hardware--An identifiable generic hardware device. Use another metadata field called Context to identify the device.
c. Memory--An identifiable memory device. For example, the clipboard. Use another metadata field called Context to identify the device.
d. Network--An identifiable data network. Use another metadata field called Context to identify the device. Use Range to indicate the IP Address restriction.
e. Printer--An identifiable hard copy printer. Use another metadata field called Context to identify the device.
f. Screen--An identifiable display output screen device. For example, a screen reader or braille device. Use another metadata field called Context to identify the device.
g. Software--An identifiable software application that must be present. Use another metadata field called Context to identify the device.
h. Storage--An identifiable storage media device. For example, a hard disk or removable cartridge. Use another metadata field called Context to identify the device.
BOUNDS
Indicates a set of constraints that limits usage to a fixed number or extent/coverage.
a. Count--A numeric count indicating the number of times the corresponding entity may be exercised.
b. Range--A numeric range indicating the min/max values of the corresponding entity that the constraint applies to. Contains the following sub entities--
min-the beginning of the range (inclusive)
max-the end of the range (inclusive).
c. Spatial--Specification of a geographic area(s) or territory over which the rights can be excercised.
TEMPORAL CONSTRAINTS
Indicates a set of constraints that limits usage to temporal boundaries.
a. Date(s): A date and/or time-based range. Contains the following sub entities--
start - the beginning of the range (inclusive)
end - the end of the range (inclusive)
fixed - an exact point in date/time
b. Accumulated Time or Period: The maximum period of metered usage time, e.g, 90 days or 8 hours.
TARGET
Indicates a set of constraints that limits usage to where and how the asset is used.
a. Purpose--Specification of a specific purpose to which the usage is constrained.
b. Industry,Group, or Venue--Specification of a specific industry, group, or venue to which the usage is constrained.


[edit] COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS/OBLIGATIONS

COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS/OBLIGATIONS metadata specifies the obligations needed to exercise a Permission to Use (e.g., Pay $5 each time you Play the video; or Publish an attribution or credit statement). The information found under "Compliance Requirements/Obligations" answers the question "What must an end user do to be able to use a media item?" The specific metadata fields are listed below as Fee, Interactions, and Usage. The types of requirements/obligations (terms and values) are also identified.

FEE
Indicates a set of requirements for payments for usage.
a. PrePay--The amount due prior to the granting/use of the rights. Use Payment entity. Temporal constraints may also be used.
b. PostPay--The amount due after the use of the rights.
c. PerUse--The amount due for each use of the granted rights.
d. Payment--The amount due for each use of the granted rights.
INTERACTIONS
Indicates a set of requirements on user interactions.
a. Accept--User must view and agree to textual information.
b. Register--User must register their details with a service provider.
USAGE
Indicates a set of requirements on the use of the asset.
a. Attribution--The use of the asset must always include attribution of the asset owners, e.g., used by permission of KUED-TV for non-commerical, educational purposes only.
b. Tracked--The User will be tracked for their use of the asset.


This discussion represents only a small portion of full-blown rights management metadata. So much of this metadata is tailor-made to the business rules operating within an organization. The ODRL can be considered a starting point for building your own rights management metadata classifications; many of the accepted industry terminology is used. As well, the values and terms are rather complete; you do not have to research them yourselves.

Other guidelines are certainly applied based on University policies and federal laws. Listed in the Resources section below are links to many policies, procedures, and laws, some unique to academic environments.



[edit] Resources

Marriott Library Copyright Education Page
http://www.lib.utah.edu/circ/copyrightpage.htm
Copyright Basics
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html
Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html
Teach Act
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/pl107-273.html#13301
Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Higher Education
http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/dmcamemo.html
Digital Rights Management
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
The Open Source Digital Rights Language Initiative
http://odrl.net/
Creative Commons Licensing
http://creativecommons.org/
GNU Software Licensing
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html
How Music Licensing Works
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-licensing.htm
DRM Demystified, by Christopher Levy in the December 6, 2007 issue of StreamingMedia.com
http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=9788
Apple statement on DRM
"Thoughts on Music," Steve Jobs, February 6, 2007
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/
Apple FairPlay
"How FairPlay Works: Apple's iTunes DRM Dilemma," February 26, 2007
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/2A351C60-A4E5-4764-A083-FF8610E66A46.html
Wikipedia article on "FairPlay"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay
Adobe DRM and Flash Media Server
http://www.adobe.com/ devnet/flashcom/articles/digital_media_protection.html
Microsoft's Windows Media Rights Manager (audio and video content)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/drm/default.mspx
Microsoft PlayReady for Silverlight (audio & video content, non-audio/video content, domain support, support for non-Windows Media audio/video codecs)
http://www.microsoft.com/PlayReady/Default.mspx
Widevine Cypher for Flash
http://www.widevine.com/pr/109_cypher_flash.html
RealNetworks Helix Security
http:// www.realnetworks.com/products/security/index.html
DivX Open Video System (OVS)
http://www.divx.com/company/partner/ovs.php



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