Planet eBook Talks To RightsAssist

September 18, 2001

Planet eBook speaks to RightsAssist about eBooks and DRM and previews what it will be demonstrating at the upcoming Planet eBook & DRM Arena at Seybold San Francisco 2001.

What are you going to be exhibiting Seybold San Francisco 2001 and who should go and see you?

We will be exhibiting the RightsPro Suite, our new release of a commercial content management and licensing software system.

Traditional publishers and ebook publishers will be interested to see how we have translated a process involving thousands of pieces of paper into a dynamic electronic system that supports the efficient handling of multiple licenses for multiple projects.

How does your DRM solutions stand out from the others out there?

Most DRM solutions focus on protecting the user's rights. We come to the world of rights management from the position of the broker for third-party content. Our system allows the user to manage and track licenses for the use of other people's intellectual property, whether it is video footage, audio recordings, photographs, original artwork or text.

The world of ebooks and DRM has gone through a year of consolidation, how have you seen the past year and the direction in which it appears to be heading?

Five years ago, few people were aware of the value of intellectual property. Now virtually every publisher is looking for innovative ways to repackage existing content. We recently worked with a major publisher on a market test for an on-line textbook. It was well received by the students, and will be more cost-effective for the publisher to update the on-line materials than to reprint the book. The challenge will be how to make money selling content on line. RightsPro can help by reducing the up-front production costs through a more effective and efficient licensing process.

What is the key thing that needs to occur before the widespread adoption of eBooks?

In order to become widely used, eBooks need to be easier to access, less expensive than printed books, and contain more exciting visual and sound components. In order for eBook publishers to use more content, there needs to be some standardized meta-tag process that identifies the copyright holder and authorizes payments for use. This will lower the costs associated with the administration of the 3rd party rights and will allow eBooks to differentiate themselves from the print media.

Another issue for eBook publishers is how copies are made and what it costs to make those copies. Until the cost of copying an eBook exceeds the cost of downloading one, people will continue to share digital files. An eBook should be in a format that cannot be copied with a single click. (This would also help protect the rights of the content contributors.) If it costs more to copy the eBook page by page than to buy a new one, people will be more likely to buy a new one. You could loan an eBook to someone either by loaning your reader or by moving the file to their computer, but once created the file could only reside in one place. This is one of the issues addressed in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 that continues to be a point of discussion between publishers and users of electronic materials.