Semantic Copyright Expression Options

Which route should we follow, when representing CC+ ?

3rd CC Tech Summit Torino 26 June 2009: Roland Alton - Options for Expressing More Permissions Licenses in Creative Works

Where are we now?

• osAlliance is running two registries
– digital timestamping as key asset
– storage
– certificates
– double licensing, including payment clearance

• osAlliance business model
– co-operative with 46 IT / media / design
consultants
– Open Source / Open Content / Open Innovation
– We mainly do consultancy in complex
environments

Intermediaries collect and
distribute
• Rights Collecting • Revenue Sharing
Societies Providers
• Cultural Flat Rate • CCplus

Do you remember the Creative Commons slogan: Skip the Intermediaries?

But: CC non-commercial license options still dominate!

CC-nc: 67,5% in 2006 (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/License_statistics)


International Standard Recording
Code
http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/isrc_handbook.html

The ISRC system is the key to royalty collection for
recordings in the digital information age.
• ISRC is a unique, reliable, international identification
system.
• ISRC provides a unique tool for the purpose of rights
administration.
• ISRC is a useful identification tool in the electronic
distribution of music.
• ISRC coding is compatible with standards developed in
the field of consumer electronics and is readable by
hardware already used in the recording industry.
• ISRC is cost effective - it can be put into operation
without requiring special investment in equipment or

CC+ in CC Rights Expression
Language
• ccREL
– Creative Commons Rights Expression Language (ccREL)
is a proposed metadata language for descriptive
metadata to be appended to media that is licensed
under any of the Creative Commons licenses. According
to the draft submitted to the W3C, it is to come in the
forms of RDFa for (x)HTML pages and XMP for
standalone media.

• RDFa
– RDFa (or Resource Description Framework - in -
attributes) is a set of extensions to XHTML which is now
a W3C Recommendation. RDFa uses attributes from
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at
XHTML's meta and link elements, and generalises them
<a rel="cc:morePermissions"
so that they are usable on all elements. This allows
href="http://www.registeredcommons.org/grid/RC-01-LIZ0000000829-8">Registered
Commons</a>. annotating XHTML markup with semantics.

Limitations with ccREL
• ccREL used by Creative Commons schema
– enough for CC licenses
– but does not scale to CC+ scenarios
– CC Schema (18 classes, 10 properties)

• XML approaches (ODRL, MPEG-21 REL,...)
– XML limited expressivity, just formal syntax
– Internet/Web is open and heterogeneous
– Copyright is a complex domain
– Requires high level of abstraction
(not bits or pixels)


Semantic approaches

• ODRL
– The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) Initiative is
an international effort aimed at developing and
promoting an open standard for rights expressions.
http://www.w3.org/TR/odrl/

• RDF/OWL
– The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is a family of
knowledge representation languages for authoring
ontologies, and is endorsed by the W3C.
http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/


Idea
• Profit from the greater expressive power of
Web Ontologies:
– formal models for Creative Commons and CC+
– expressive enough for Private Copy,…
– put it into play in a Semantic Copyright Management
System
– reuse Semantic Web reasoning support in order to
facilitate implementation
– model ODRL using RDF/OWL and then plug ccREL to it
using RDFa

• Use Copyright Ontology building blocks…
– CopyrightOnto (99 classes, 42 properties)
– http://rhizomik.net/ontologies/copyrightonto

Let's define “root” semantic
elements first

Copyright

MPEG-21 “Adapt”
Reproduction Right

ODRL “Duplicate”
Copy
CC “Reproduction”


Copyright Ontology

Creation, Rights and Actions Models


CopyrightOnto
Creation Model

Abstractions
Goethe’s
Faust
Work

Objects Processes

Manifestation
Performance
Fixation
Communication
Instance

CopyrightOnto
Rights Model
RentalRight

DistributionRight ImportationRight

FixationRight SoundRecordRight

ReproductionRight MotionPictureRight
EconomicRights
PublicPerformanceRight BroadcastingRight

CommunicationRight MakingAvailableRight

TransformationRight AdaptationRight

TranslationRight
AttributionRight

IntegrityRight
Copyright MoralRights
DisclosureRight

WithdrawalRight

PermorfersRights

RelatedRights ProducersRights

BroadcastersRights

CopyrightOnto
Action Model
Connect building blocks with actions
Abstractions

transform
Work

manifest improvise
Objects Processes

Manifestation
perform Performance
distribute reproduce retransmit
Fixation fix
reproduce communicate Communication
Instance

CopyrightOnto
Action Model
• Actions governed by Economic Rights:
– Reproduction Right:
copy
– Distribution Right:
distribute; sell, rent, lend
– Public Performance Right:
perform
– Fixation Right:
record
– Communication Right:
communicate; retransmit, broadcast, make available
3 CC Tech Summit Torino 26 June 2009: Roland Alton - Options for Expressing More Permissions Licenses in Creative Works
rd

– Transformation Right:

CopyrightOnto
Action Model

• End-user actions,
to use a… picture, sculpture
– manifestation: buy book, CD, DVD
– instance: buy projection, recital, exhibition

– performance: assist
TV channel, radio station
– communication: access web page, stream
• broadcast: tune
• something made available: access

CopyrightOnto
Action Model
• License building primitives:
– Event Patterns:
to state what is obliged, permitted or prohibited
• Built from actions and case roles

Person
All copy events
agent
performed by any
Copy
person who copies
result
any instance getting
Instance
aim theme a copy instance and
whose aim is private
private Instance


CopyrightOnto
Action Model
– Agree: model permissions
• theme points to the permitted event pattern

Agree

theme Person
agent
Copy

result

aim theme Instance

private Instance


CopyrightOnto
Action Model
– consequence: model obligations
• Points to the obliged event pattern
– condition: model a priori conditions
• Points to the condition event pattern
– Disagree: model prohibitions
• theme points to the prohibited event pattern

– Other concepts:
• Transfer: models interchanges, commercial or not.
• Time/Location
• Rules (provide named variables)
• ...

CopyrightOnto
Scenarios
CC by-sa license using CopyrighOnto:
Agree

theme theme theme

A B
Copy ⊔ Copy ⊔
Distribute ⊔ Distribute ⊔ C Derive
Communicate ⊔ Communicate ⊔
MakeAvailable MakeAvailable

theme condition condition theme result

MyManifestation Attribute NewManifestation

isManifestationOf
recipient
A: copy, distribute, communicate and
me newWork make available manifestations of
“myWork” if attribution
theme
isDerivationOf
isManifestationOf C: authorise derivations of the work

B: the same terms for derivations
theme
myWork


CopyrightOnto
Scenarios
Private Copy using CopyrightOnto:

Agree

theme Person ?x isDirectlyRelatedTo Person

agent
Copy agent
result

Instance ?y theme Use
aim theme

theme
private Instance

Agree


Conclusions

• Concentrate on semantics
• Ontology, more expressivity
– formalise CC licenses but also CC+ ones
• Facilitates implementation and
interoperability
– reasoners for license checking
• Easy to integrate with ccREL
– based on RDF/OWL so expressive as RDFa


Copyright Ontology

Implementation


CopyrightOnto
Implementation
• One conceptual model, many
implementations
• Semantic Web implementation with
OWL
• OWL-DL variant
+ expressivity
– enables tractable and decidable
reasoning OWL Full OWL DL OWL Lite
for use-license checking, scalability
- complexity


CopyrightOnto
Implementation
• Rights and License Patterns Copyright
implemented as Classes
– Copyright, Reproduction Right, Reproduction
Copy, CopyPattern,... Right

• Uses
Copy
implemented as Instances
– u
Copy
Pattern

• if u ∈ Copy Pattern then ?

license pattern authorises u u

CopyrightOnto
Implementation
• License Pattern Class
built from constraints on kinds of actions,
agents, time points, locations, etc.

• OWL Building Blocks
– Classes for actions (e.g. Copy)
– Logical operators (AND, OR, NOT)
– OWL Restrictions, constraints on case roles
(e.g. agent all values from PublisherSubscribers)


CopyrightOnto
Implementation
• Copy pattern restricted to:
– digital object (theme )
– group of users (agent )

..
• or

2/.
Copy

03
0 .1
– non-commercial (aim )

i:1
do
=
ag

me
en
t=

t he
Pu
bli
she
rS
• depending on ub
scr
ibe
aim = Non-Commercial
rs
– time range (pointInTime ) po
int
In
Tim
e ≥2
/3 0 ]
20 07/06 00
7/
1/01- 07
[2 0 07/0 / 01
In Time copy theme doi:10.1032/…
point
licensed actions

CopyrightOnto
Implementation
• Patterns permitted by Agree actions and
prohibited by Disagree ones
Agree Agree
Copy Disagree
all copy actions Pattern 2

Pattern 1
Pattern 2’

Allowed

CopyrightOnto
Implementation
• OWL-DL reasoners services:
Pattern A
– Satisfiability: consistency, license verification

Pattern B
– Subsumption: compute subclasses
• License interactions
• License search Pattern

– Instance Checking: class an individual belongs
to
• Check uses against licenses Use

– Other:
• Debugging, justifications for reasoning
3rd conclusions
CC Tech Summit Torino 26 June 2009: Roland Alton - Options for Expressing More Permissions Licenses in Creative Works

Overview on Semantic Web


• Semantic Web proposal
– Web + Knowledge Representation
– Web wide formal semantics

• RDF: semantic net, graph model
• RDF Schema: classes, inheritance,…
• Web Ontology Language (OWL)
– OWL-DL: scalable
(decidable and tractable)
• Semantic Web Rules


Graph model

• RDF provides graph model:

Album title "..." release

contains item_1 title
List Song "..."
author
MusicGroup
author
item_2
Song title "..."

• Graph can model:
– trees (XML)
– tables (DBs)


• RDFSchema: OOP-like primitives
– type
– class, property

a
RD chem
– subclass, subproperty
Class
– domain, range Audio

F
FS
RD
subClassOf

Class
Song type
domain http://music.org
Property Property /song1
attribute title type

subPropertyOf range title
Class
type
Literal “...”


• Web Ontology Language (OWL)
– Logic reasoning
– Primitives for semantic interoperability
• Equivalent classes and properties
equivalentClass, equivalentProperty
• Disjoint classes
disjointWith
• Inverse, transitive, symmetric properties
inverseOf, TransitiveProperty, SymmetricProperty
• Cardinality
maxCardinality, minCardinality
• Unique value properties
FunctionalProperty
• Identificative properties
3rd InverseFunctionalProperty
CC Tech Summit Torino 26 June 2009: Roland Alton - Options for Expressing More Permissions Licenses in Creative Works

Where do we arrive with a semantic web approach?

•Compatibility with ccREL
•Ability to express public domain
•Represent moral rights
•Track revocations
•Connectors to intermediaries


Help content manage users or help users manage content?

Simply leave commercial exploitation in the dust?

How shall we handle dead pointers
to more permission URLs?

How can we represent dual licensing properly?


Contact

Roland Alton
ras@osAlliance.com
+43 664 1547588

Roberto Garcia
roberto@rhizomik.net


Semantic Copyright Expression Options

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