[Odrl-version2] ONIX for Books - usage constraints

[Francis Cave]

The relationship between the ONIX for Licensing Terms "Usage" and the ODRL
"Policy" is the main focus of EDItEUR's current interest in ODRL. However,
the most widely-used of EDItEUR's stable of ONIX communication formats is
ONIX for Books, which is used internationally within the book trade to
communicate detailed bibliographical descriptions as well as supply terms
for printed and digital book products between publishers, booksellers,
libraries and intermediaries. 

 

In the latest release of ONIX for Books (Release 3.0) it is possible to
communicate usage constraints for digital products. Such constraints
typically comprise as series of "usage types", each of which can have a
status "permitted ", "permitted subject to limit" or "prohibited". 

 

The following usage types have so far been defined:

 

-          Preview

-          Print

-          Copy / paste

-          Share

-          Text to speech

-          Lend

 

Constraints are expressed using the usage status "permitted subject to
limit", and the following have so far been defined:

 

-          Copies (the max. number of copies that may be made)

-          Characters (the max. number of characters in a permitted extract
for a specified usage)

-          Words (the max. number of words in a permitted extract for a
specified usage)

-          Pages (the max. number of pages in a permitted extract for a
specified usage)

-          Percentage (the max. percentage of total content in a permitted
extract for a specified usage)

-          Devices (the max. number of devices in a "share group", i.e.
across which group the content may be shared)

-          Concurrent users (the max. number of concurrent users)

-          Percentage per time period (the max. percentage of total content
in a permitted usage per specified time period; the time period being
specified in a separate constraint)

-          Days (the max. time period in days)

-          Times (the max. number of times a specified usage may occur, i.e.
the maximum number of permitted repetitions of a usage).

 

Note that the format permits repetition of constraints, so that, for
example, a limit on both the size of extract and the duration of the usage
may be expressed.

 

Release 3.0 of ONIX for Books was issued in April 2009, but the book trade
is only slowly switching to Release 3.0 from the previous Release (2.1).
However, it is anticipated that the take-up of Release 3.0 will increase as
the size of the e-book market increases, because Release 3.0 has much better
support for description of e-books than the previous Release.

 


Given the widespread adoption of ONIX for Books within the global book
trade, it would seem sensible to explore whether the ODRL 2.0 Common
Vocabulary can support all the above usage types and constraints, and to
consider filling any gaps.

 

Francis Cave

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