Patent Publication Number: US-8543605-B2

Title: Licensed rights clearance and tracking for digital assets

Description:
PRIORITY REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/763,347, entitled LICENSED RIGHTS CLEARANCE AND TRACKING FOR DIGITAL ASSETS, filed on Jun. 14, 2007 by inventors Curtis W. M. Bowden et al. 
    
    
     FIELD OF ART 
     The invention is directed to the management of rights in assets, and more particularly, to managing clearance and tracking of digital content rights. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A content management system, such as a Digital Asset Management system (DAM) is often employed to enable multiple users to store, search, and access content that is owned or licensed. This content is generally provided as one or more media assets in a digital format, such as pictures, text, videos, graphics, illustrations, images, audio files, fonts, colors, and the like. Conventional media asset management systems provide for storage, search and retrieval of media assets, but often the assets are not available for permitted use without obtaining approvals associated therewith. Moreover, there may be incomplete knowledge, or even no knowledge, of whose approvals are required. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various figures unless otherwise specified. 
         FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram of a rights clearance and tracking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a sample user interface for tracking rights clearance of selected assets of interest for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a sample user interface for reviewing a history of revisions made to rights clearance information, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a sample user interface for viewing assets for which all rights have been cleared for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a sample user interface for viewing assets for which at least one right has been denied for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 6  is a sample user interface for viewing assets that have been selected for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Among other things, the invention may be implemented in different embodiments as methods, processes, processor readable mediums, systems, business methods, or devices. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. 
     Briefly, embodiments of the present invention relate to rights management for songs, pictures, movies and other such media assets. Among other things, the present invention enables a rights brokerage service to clear rights for assets that are owned by first parties, for license to second parties to use within designated projects, such as advertising campaign projects. For example, a second party, B, may desire to license an asset owned by first parties A1, A2, . . . , An, for use within an automobile advertising campaign. In this case, the present invention may be used to broker the process of identifying parties A1, A2, . . . , An, and obtaining necessary clearances therefrom. 
     Conventional media asset management systems provide for storage, search and retrieval of media assets, but often the assets are not available for permitted use without obtaining approvals associated therewith. Moreover, there may be incomplete knowledge, or even no knowledge, of whose approvals are required. Embodiments of the present invention complement such conventional media asset management systems by making it easy for customers who want to license the media for their use, to identify and obtain the requisite approvals. 
     Generally, rights approvals include (i) grant of licenses to use media, and (ii) approval of the way the media is presented within a specific project. Approvals may be based on guidelines, such as trademark layout guidelines. The party that grants the licenses may be different from the party that approves the media usage. 
     An aspect of the present invention provides a collaborative workflow for identifying, tracking and obtaining clearances and approvals from rights holders to use media in projects. Rights licensors, rights approvers, rights brokers and rights licensees collaboratively use embodiments of the present invention to select assets of interest, to clear rights, to approve presentation of media within projects, to track progress of clearances and approvals, and to obtain requisite licenses. 
     The media itself need not be present. If used in conjunction with a media asset management system, the media does not need to be accessed during the clearance process provided by embodiments of the present invention. Thumbnail images and meta-data can be used to represent the media assets. Access to the media assets themselves is deferred until required clearances have been obtained. In other aspects of the invention, a delivery mechanism can be used to deliver an asset once the rights are cleared. For instance, a licensor may provide a “master” element for final use, which is deliverable to a licensee via an embodiment of the invention. 
     Aspects of the present invention decouple the process of obtaining clearances and approvals to use media assets, from the assets themselves. In distinction from conventional licensing systems, the media assets need not be ingested into a media asset management system, and need not be available to the rights brokerage service. Such assets, which have not been ingested, are referred to as “meta-data only” assets, and are tracked and cleared in place of, or in addition to the actual media assets. 
     Other aspects of the present invention include reporting and auditing tools, which enable licensees and rights holders to review their licenses and see, for selected media assets, which licenses are in force and which licenses were previously granted. Rights holders can review licenses for the assets in which they hold rights, and licensees can review licenses for the assets which they use. By linking licenses to assets, this aspect of the present invention provides a variety of views including, but not limited to, views keyed on asset, project, license, rights holder and licensee. 
     Another aspect of the present invention also incorporates statutory copyright information, to automatically recognize that certain approvals are not required by copyright law. 
     It will thus be appreciated that the present invention includes aspects that serve as the basis for a powerful clearance center for media assets. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 1 , which is a simplified block diagram of a rights clearance and tracking system  100 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. System  100  is a one-stop clearing house, which enables customers to license media assets for use in their projects, by identifying and clearing rights from appropriate holders of rights to the media assets. System  100  may operate in conjunction with a digital asset management system (not shown) that holds a large searchable archive of media assets. Alternatively, system  100  may operate in isolation, solely as a clearing house. System  100  may be implemented entirely in hardware, entirely in software, or in a combination of hardware and software. System  100 , or individual components may comprise one or more electronic devices, such as a server, a personal computer, a mobile device, a cellular phone, and/or other devices. The components may be coupled through a network, such as an intranet or the internet. Similarly, the entire system may be coupled to client devices and/or other resources through a network. The device, or devices, generally include a communication interface, a processor, a memory, an input device, and an output device that are generally coupled together via a communication bus. A machine readable medium, such as a storage disc, a transmission line, or other medium may be used to store or transmit data and/or machine instructions, which may be processed by the processor to perform a number of operations. As shown in  FIG. 1 , example system  100  includes five components and five databases, which are described in detail hereinbelow. 
     Rights Analyzer  105   
     Shown in  FIG. 1  is a rights analyzer  105 , which analyzes one or more specified media assets and identifies appropriate holders of rights to the assets. A customer, for example, may search a database  110  of media assets, and find and select one or more media assets which he is interested in incorporating within a project. Generally the customer does not know the identity of the rights holders to the selected assets. By clicking on a graphical user interface control, e.g., a “Clear Rights for these Media Assets” button, the customer invokes system  100 , which in turn invokes rights analyzer  105 . Rights analyzer  105  accepts as input, an identifier of the one or more selected media assets, and produces as output a list of one or more entities that hold rights to the selected assets. 
     Alternatively, or in addition, the customer may input media assets or media asset descriptors into system  100  from one or more sources external to system  100 , for assets that are not archived in database  110 , or even for assets that are archived in the database, but that the customer has located in external sources. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, when such externally sourced assets enter system  100 , they are subsequently entered into database  110  as “meta-data only” assets if they are not already stored in the database. Thus, the media asset itself and/or only the descriptors are entered into the database  110 . 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, database  110  includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata as indicated in TABLE I. 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE I 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Metadata Schema for Media Asset Database 110 
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Metadata 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Asset ID 
                 Key: Unique identifier for asset 
               
               
                 Asset description 
                 Title or other descriptor of asset 
               
               
                 Location of Asset 
                 File system location of digital asset, if available; 
               
               
                   
                 NIL for “metadata only” assets 
               
               
                 Asset Date #n 
                 A copyright date associated with the asset, 
               
               
                 (n = 1, 2, . . . ) 
                 such as its date of creation, its date of publication, 
               
               
                   
                 the date of its author&#39;s death, etc. 
               
               
                 Date Type #n 
                 Type of copyright date for Date #n 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In one embodiment of the present invention, rights analyzer  105  operates by using available media asset metadata that includes rights holder information. Such metadata may have been prepared manually, partially automatically or fully automatically. In another embodiment of the present invention, rights analyzer  105  operates by using databases, optionally third party databases, that provide rights holder information based on digital fingerprints of media, such as the Gracenote database used to identify songs. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a media editor manually provides rights holder information to rights analyzer  105  via a graphical user interface. The media editor may, for example, visually review photos and identify celebrities and trademarks that appear in the photos. The present invention provides a user interface for the media editor, e.g., with a control activated by an “Add Rights Holder” button, for entering rights holders. To assist the media editor, the “Add Rights Holder” button includes a drop down list of various types of rights holders, including inter alia studios, writers, actors and trademarks, and the media editor can enter rights holder data according to type. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , rights analyzer  105  also accesses a database  115  that maintains information about rights holders and the assets in which they hold rights. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, database  115  may be pre-populated with rights holder information, and also updated when rights analyzer  105  identifies new rights holders, or new assets held by already known rights holders. 
     In accordance with the present invention, database  115  includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata as indicated in TABLE II. 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE II 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Metadata Schema for Rights Holder Database 115 
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Metadata 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Rights holder ID 
                 Key: Unique identifier for rights holder 
               
               
                 Rights holder description 
                 Title or other descriptor for rights holder 
               
               
                 Asset #n (n = 1, 2, . . . ) 
                 ID of asset #n for which rights 
               
               
                   
                 holder has rights 
               
               
                 Type of right #n 
                 Studio, writer, actor, etc. for asset #n 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In addition, rights holder entity information is also stored, including inter alia rights holder name, point of contact, postal address, telephone number, e-mail address, payment information and the like. 
     It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that there are generally multiple rights holders to a single piece of media. Use of a movie with a soundtrack, for example, may require licenses from a large number of licensors, including inter alia holders of rights to: 
     still copyright 
     footage copyright 
     story copyright 
     characters copyright 
     talent #1, talent #2, . . . 
     music master recording rights 
     music composition rights 
     lyrics 
     trademarks 
     property rights 
     personality rights 
     privacy rights, 
     and further including inter alia guilds such as: 
     Directors Guild of America (DGA) 
     Writers Guild of America (WGA) 
     American Federation of Musicians (AFM) 
     Screen Actors Guild (SAG) 
     In general, customers are often not able to identify these rights holders on their own. Many customers are also not able or are unwilling to negotiate with rights holders directly for the requisite licenses that the customers need. Embodiments of the invention enable a customer to obtain the needed licenses. Before committing to a license, a customer may explore licensing issues for a number of assets to determine which asset, if any, suits the customer&#39;s needs. The customer may obtain a list of rights that are needed for various assets. The customer may also employ a consulting service to evaluate potential complexities and/or a likelihood of success in obtaining needed rights for various assets. In one example, a customer may consider using a film clip, and ask a service to assess all rights embedded within the clip. For instance, the customer may not be aware that designer sunglasses worn by an actor in the clip may require a clearance. The customer or service may evaluate the complexity and/or likelihood of obtaining the necessary clearance before deciding whether to pursue licensing that clip or another clip. 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, rights analyzer  105  further accesses a database  120  of statutory information that specifies conditions under which licenses are not required for media assets in various states, and in various countries around the world. For example, in many territories publicity rights for a person expire at a fixed number of years after the person&#39;s death. When rights analyzer  105  identifies such rights, it consults database  120  to determine whether or not a license is required in a given territory during a given time span. For example, a customer may select a media asset for use in Germany, with a photograph of Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein died in 1955, and database  120  may indicate that publicity rights in Germany expire 50 years after death, in which case rights analyzer  105  determines that a license to the publicity rights of Albert Einstein is no longer required. 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, database  120  includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata as indicated in TABLE III. 
                     TABLE III                  Metadata Schema for Statutory Information Database 120                     Metadata   Description               Statute ID   Key: Unique identifier for statute       Statute reference   Reference to appropriate section of copyright statute       Territory   Geographical region (state, country, etc.)       Type of right   Publicity, composition, guild, etc.       Expiration condition   Condition upon which copyright ends                    
Rights Clearance Module  125 
 
     Rights clearance module  125  is used to obtain approvals and clearances from the rights holders identified by rights analyzer  105 . In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, rights clearance module  125  provides a graphical user interface through which rights holders can review license requests, negotiate license fees and terms, grant licenses, and approve media for use in customer projects. Rights clearance module  125  uses rights holder database  115  to authorize rights holders to view specific customer projects. 
     In some instances rights holders may grant conditional licenses, dependent upon approval of a final version of the customer project. As mentioned hereinabove, the party responsible for reviewing and approving the final version may be different than the party granting the rights, and the present invention provides interfaces for both such parties. 
     In some instances rights holders may assign or sub-license their rights to a licensing agency that uses system  100 , in which case system  100  itself can directly grant licenses and approve media usages. Assets in database  110  may then be tagged according to whether they are model released (e.g., approved by a person, who&#39;s image or other aspect is included in an asset), or subject released (e.g., approved by an owner of art or other subject matter included in an asset), or both. 
     In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, rights clearance module  125  stores clearance information in a project database  130 . Project database  130  is used to organize projects into component assets, and maintain clearance status for each component asset in each overall asset in a project. Component assets may include portions of an overall asset, such as a song heard within a film clip. 
     In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, database  130  includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata as indicated in TABLE IV. 
                     TABLE IV                  Metadata Schema for Project Database 130                     Metadata   Description               Project ID   Key: Unique identifier for customer project       Project Description   Title or other descriptor for project       Customer ID   ID of project owner - potential licensee       Asset #m   ID of asset #m selected for potential use in project       (m = 1, 2, . . . )           Rights Holder #m:n   ID of rights holder #n for asset #m       (n − 1, 2, . . . )           Status #m:n   Clearance status of rights holder #m:n           (approved, pending, denied)                    
Tracking Module  135 
 
     Tracking module  135  is used to progressively track rights clearances as various rights holders grant or decline to grant licenses to assets selected for customer projects. A customer may view the status of his project and see which licenses have been granted, which licenses have been denied, and which licenses are pending. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, clearance information is written to database  130  by rights clearance module  125 . Tracking module  135  accesses project database  130  to retrieve the current clearance information to display. 
     To this end, reference is now made to  FIGS. 2-6 , which illustrate various tracking information provided by tracking module  135 .  FIG. 2  is a sample user interface for tracking rights clearance of selected assets of interest for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in  FIG. 2  is a window  200  including thumbnail images representing assets. Thumbnail image  205  represents a composition entitled “Money Song”, and thumbnail image  210  represents a song by artist Barrett Strong. 
     The information displayed in window  200  corresponds to a specific project under development. The assets represented by the thumbnail images correspond to assets that were selected by a potential licensee using this embodiment of the present invention, to be considered for possible incorporation within his project. 
     Alongside each thumbnail image is a list of rights holders for the corresponding asset, as generated by rights analyzer  105 . The list for “Money Song” includes an entry  215  for a master rights holder, EMI Capitol, and an entry  220  for a sync (i.e., composition) rights holder, Kay Gee Bee Music, Ltd. Each entry includes a status indicator, indicating the status of the rights clearance vis a vis the corresponding rights holder. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the clearance with EMI Capitol is pending, and the clearance with Kay Bee Gee Music, Ltd. has encountered a problem. Similarly, the list for the song by Barrett Strong includes an entry  225  for a master rights holder, EMI Capitol, and an entry  230  for a sync rights holder, EMI Music Publishing. The clearance with both of these rights holders is indicated as cleared. 
     Each entry in the list of rights holders has a control  235  for editing the rights information, and a control  240  for deleting the entry. These are generally used by administrators rather than by licensees. Levels of security can be applied to control access to these functions. Below the list is a control  245  for adding a new entry. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, changes to the list of rights holders are recorded in a log, and available for review via a control  250 . When a user activates control  250 , a history of revisions is displayed, as in  FIG. 3 . 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 3 , which is a sample user interface for reviewing a history of revisions made to rights clearance information, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in  FIG. 3  is a window  300  that includes a thumbnail image  305  representing an asset, such as the movie “For the Love of Money” indicated in the figure. To the right of thumbnail  305  is a log of changes  310  made to the rights clearance list for the corresponding asset. For example, on Sep. 5, 2006 the status was changed from “Pending” to “Cleared”. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 4 , which is a sample user interface for viewing assets for which all rights have been cleared for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in  FIG. 4  is a window  400  that displays thumbnails for assets selected by a potential licensee for consideration for use within a project  405  entitled “Graduation 2007”. Specifically, the thumbnails in window  400  correspond to those of the selected assets which belong to a “Total Clearance Package” group  450 ; namely, those of the selected assets for which all required rights have been cleared for use in project  405 . Other projects under development are shown in the left pane of window  400 , and a user can select from any of them. 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an asset is automatically moved into the Total Clearance Package  450  when all of the asset&#39;s rights have been cleared; e.g., when the status of each entry in the asset&#39;s list of rights holders is “Cleared” for project  405 . Conversely, if the status of one or more entries in the list of rights holders should change from “Cleared” to a different status, then the asset is automatically pulled from the Total Clearance Package  450 . 
     The Total Clearance Package  450  shown in  FIG. 4  includes a movie “Pomp and Circumstance”  410 , a movie “We&#39;re in the Money”  415 , and a song by artist Barrett Strong  420 . Assets in Total Clearance Package  450  are eligible to be committed to a group, such as Final Model Line, by selecting an asset and selecting an Add button  425 . 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, rights clearance module  125  notifies a rights holder when an asset is waiting for his clearance. Such notification may be inter alia by e-mail or text message. Tracking module  135  notifies a potential licensee when one or more assets that he selected have been totally cleared. Depending on how the process was initiated, a license agreement may be automatically completed, or may be offered to a potential licensee for final execution. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 5 , which is a sample user interface for viewing assets for which at least one right has been denied for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in  FIG. 5  is a window  500  that displays thumbnails for assets selected by a potential licensee for consideration for use within a project  505  entitled “Graduation 2007”. Specifically, the thumbnails in window  500  correspond to those of the selected assets which belong to a “Denied” group  550 ; namely, those of the selected assets for which at least one rights holder has denied clearance for use within project  505 . 
     The Denied group shown in  FIG. 5  includes an “Unwritten” asset  510 , a movie “Take the Money and Run”  515 , and a movie “We May Never Pass This Way Again”  520 . An “Unwritten” asset, also referred to as a “meta-data only” asset, is an asset which is not physically or electronically present within a rights clearance system. In such case, the rights clearance system acts as a broker, which clears rights for assets that are licensed by a third party. 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an asset is automatically moved into the Denied group if one or more of the entries in its list of rights holders have a status of “Denied”. Conversely, if the statuses should change so that none of the entries have a “Denied” status, then the asset is automatically pulled from the Denied group. 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, tracking module  135  identifies to the customer possible substitutes for assets in the Denied group. For example, if a rights holder to a photo of Marilyn Monroe declines to grant a license to a customer, then tracking module  135  proposes to the customer alternate photos that may be used as a substitute for the denied photo. Such alternate photos are identified by searching through asset database  110 . 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 6 , which is a sample user interface for viewing assets that have been committed to be licensed for use within a project, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in  FIG. 6  is a window  600  that displays thumbnails for assets selected by a potential licensee for use within a project. Specifically, the thumbnails in window  600  correspond to those assets which belong to a “Final Model Line” group  650 ; namely, those of the selected assets which have been committed for inclusion within the project. Only assets from the Total Clearance Package  450  from  FIG. 4  are eligible for commitment. 
     Use of the Final Model Group  650  in this embodiment of the present invention is of advantage where more than one level of approval is required for committing assets for inclusion within a project. When a final storyboard or layout for a project is created and composed and approved by the project designers, final approval may further be required by one or more management levels. The relevant authorities can collaboratively use this embodiment of the present invention to view and approve the project. 
     Licensing Module  140   
     Referring back to  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a licensing module  140  generates digital licenses for the Final Model Line  650  assets, for use within a customer project. A digital license is generally a digital formal contract. Digital licenses are generated when assets are added to the Final Model Group. Tracking module  135  can provide the necessary contract information from Rights Holder Database  115  and Projects Database  130  to Licensing Module  140 . In another embodiment, Licensing Module  140  may be in direct communication with Rights Holder Database  115  and/or Projects Database  130 . After all approvals are obtained for an asset, the digital license is signed or otherwise approved by a rights holder and a licensee. Approval may include electronic signatures, a secure submission, written signatures, or other indication of approval. The digital licenses are stored in a license database  145  for reference, and linked with the licensed assets in database  110 . 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, database  145  includes inter alia data that conforms to a schema with metadata as indicated in TABLE V. 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE V 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Metadata Schema for License Database 145 
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Metadata 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 License ID 
                 Key: Unique identifier for license 
               
               
                 Location of License 
                 File system location of digital copy of license 
               
               
                 Licensor ID 
                 Identifier of rights holder 
               
               
                 Licensee ID 
                 Identifier of customer 
               
               
                 Asset ID 
                 Identifier of media asset 
               
               
                 Project ID 
                 Identifier of customer project in which asset is used 
               
               
                 Term 
                 Time period of license 
               
               
                 Territory 
                 Geographical territory of license 
               
               
                 License Fee 
                 Cost of license 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In addition, licensee entity information is also stored, including inter alia licensee name, point of contact, postal address, telephone number, e-mail address and payment information. 
     Reporting Module  150   
     Databases  110  and  145  can be joined and/or queried to enable a reporting module  150  to output a variety of reports. For example, using reporting module  150 , a licensee can generate a report of his licenses that are in force, and a report of licenses granted to him for designated assets. A licensor can generate a report of his licenses that are in force, and a report of licenses granted by him for designated assets. A licensing brokerage can generate reports of licenses granted for designated assets. 
     It may thus be appreciated that system  100  provides a cooperative workflow between customers, right brokers, rights holders and rights approvers. 
     In reading the above description, persons skilled in the art will realize that there are many apparent variations that can be applied to the methods and systems described. Thus it may be appreciated that the present invention is also advantageous for use with general brokerage systems and services that require rights clearances, in addition to media asset licensing, including inter alia brokering of legal contracts, brokering of real estate rentals and sales, brokering of sales and marketing distributorships, and brokering of services.