Rights Committee Charter (2024)

Defining "Rights"

In book publishing, “Rights” usually refers to one of two important work flows:

• Rights “Out”: typically, rights are licensed “out” from a person who (or entity which) is the designated rights holder for a creative work (Intellectual Property.) Book rights are often licensed “out” from authors, from authors’ agents, and/or from Rights Departments within publishing companies.
• Rights “In”: typically, rights are licensed “in” to a publishing company or another entity that will be producing a physical or digital product using the creative work (IP) for which rights have been acquired.

Note: when rights are licensed “out” to a book publisher, the publisher is licensing “in” a set of rights that typically enable publication of a book (in a variety of formats) and may also include that book publisher being granted a set of rights that the publisher is empowered to license “out” to others.

The types and nature of rights related to creative works in book publishing are constantly evolving. The list of potential rights, which is not intended to be exhaustive, includes: Print publication and republication (in many formats, in designated territories), E-book (static or enhanced), Audio Book; Large print; Book club; Digital adaptations (beyond E-books); Dramatic TV Film; Commercial/ Merchandising/Brand; Adaptations (for example, abridgements, board books, or picturizations such as comic books/graphic novels); Educational/school/classroom use (including course pack); Same language rights for publication outside of original publisher’s primary territory; and Translation rights.

The processes used to acquire and manage rights to works, including whole works or permission to use part of a work, are collectively referred to as "rights in." 

Current State

Drawn from survey work and the committee’s direct perspective, the current state of rights management in book publishing continues to be characterized as follows:

• The importance of rights transactions is growing, as international demand for content and licensing increases, as new publishing models have emerged, and as publishers invest to fulfill their “duty of care” responsibilities to content creators.
• A significant opportunity exists to develop the infrastructure required to obtain revenue from existing contracted deals. Clarifying “who owns what” would reduce instances in which rights transactions are considered too difficult to monetize. Investing in systems to track agreements and monetize rights investments can build and keep up with transaction volume.
• Improving what we know about rights holders and related rights can deliver meaningful rights revenue, as organizations identify and take advantage of opportunities to increase revenues through new rights licensing initiatives.
• Work-from-home requirements have accelerated overall use of digital workflows, highlighting how far behind the rights segment of the supply chain is compared with other segments. Rights holders and rights buyers would benefit from workflow improvements, including the use of an industry-wide taxonomy for rights, implementation of rights metadata standards, digitization of information stored in physical media, automated workflows that track deals, agreements and payment statuses. The value of these improvements and more have been confirmed by BISG research in 2017 and 2020.

Objectives

The rights committee identifies the most important rights-related problems facing the publishing industry, identifies areas of consensus where standards or best practices would be valuable, and leads online and in-person events to inform the broader rights community. To support these efforts, the committee will continue to meet on an every-other-month basis in 2024, dedicating alternate months to working-group consideration of pending deliverables.

Stakeholder Impact/Benefits

There are multiple audiences for the work done by the rights committee:

• Rights-related professionals who need core skills and an understanding of the relevant technology
• Those making rights-related investment decisions who need to understand the opportunities available through improved rights management, including its impact on M&A value
• Publishing professionals whose work touches upon rights, and who may not fully understand rights management and its implications for their roles

Accurately communicating rights information between parties can grow revenue, reduce transaction costs, and avoid costly errors. Making rights information more accessible for both internal and external audiences also improves publishers’ ability to financially benefit from their intellectual property.

Deliverables

In 2024 the Rights Committee will:

• Expand participation in the full committee and its working group, recruiting rights professionals from the agent, publisher, and industry partner segments. Outreach efforts to engage more international representatives will continue. Advocacy for a different and more robust approach to rights will come out of committee efforts.
• Seek out and monitor new technology related to rights management and transactions (use of AI, streaming rights, smart contracts, rights hubs, blockchain). Look at implementations and limitations on use of AI, as well as licensing for AI applications. Liaison role with the AI working group.
• Expand rights resources made available on BISG website, including: Rights FAQ (published; to be maintained as needed); Directory of imprint owners, accompanied by interface and update tools; A workflow to maintain the directory as more information is gathered; Recommended standards for Royalty Statements; Useful resources (books, blogs, etc.); Links to previously held webinars
• Plan and deliver rights-related programming, including: an in-person Rights Committee Program (scheduled for January 19) focused on trends in rights; recommendations for Royalty Statement Standards (webinar scheduled for May 24); and past content to see if new webinars can be delivered through the use of prior content accompanied by a live Q&A.

Blockers

Different parts of the rights community see problems in different ways, and they pursue
solutions with different methods and, at times, conflicting objectives. Use of terms also varies across markets and some types of publishers. Those working outside of rights do not see effective rights management as a fundamental source of significant revenue and enterprise value. As a result, reaching a diverse set of target stakeholders may be a challenge, and willingness to invest in rights management may be difficult to foster.

The committee has chosen to meet bi-monthly, instead of monthly, with working group meetings in the months when the full committee does not meet. The committee expects that deliverables will more readily emerge from working groups, but less frequent meetings might delay the full committee from responding to issues and challenges that develop over the course of the coming year.

Timeline