Ontology for Multi-Entity Rights over Content

Abstract

This document defines an ontology for describing rights over content where multiple entities or agents have stakes or claims, such as in collaborative creations or shared digital expressions. The ontology extends the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) Model and integrates concepts from Dublin Core, FOAF, and Creative Commons Rights Expression Language (CC REL). It provides a vocabulary of classes and properties to model entities, content, rights, relationships between rights, and contextual conditions, enabling machine-readable representations of complex rights structures in digital and physical contexts.

Introduction

Traditional intellectual property (IP) frameworks, rooted in property-based models, often struggle to address the rights of multiple stakeholders over shared content, particularly in digital environments. The Ontology for Multi-Entity Rights over Content builds on the ODRL Model to provide a structured, machine-readable framework for representing rights held by multiple entities or agents over a single content item. It supports use cases such as co-authorship, licensing agreements, and collaborative digital works, emphasizing moral, social, and economic rights over proprietary ownership.

The ontology integrates ODRL's policy-based approach with concepts from Dublin Core (for metadata), FOAF (for agent relationships), and CC REL (for licensing). It is designed to be interoperable with existing standards (e.g., RDF, OWL) and applicable to both digital and physical contexts, addressing challenges like fair attribution, shared control, and contextual constraints.

Scope

This ontology focuses on:

Defining rights for content with multiple stakeholders, including natural persons, organizations, or automated agents.
Modeling relationships between rights, such as derivation, licensing, or transfer, using ODRL's policy framework.
Supporting contextual conditions that affect rights, such as temporal or jurisdictional constraints.
Enabling machine-readable representations for use in digital platforms, rights management systems, and legal frameworks.
Integrating with ODRL, Dublin Core, FOAF, and CC REL for interoperability.

Out of scope: Specific legal interpretations or jurisdictional regulations, which are left to implementers to align with applicable laws.

Terminology

The following terms are used throughout this specification, aligned with ODRL and other referenced ontologies:

Entity: An individual, organization, or system capable of holding rights over content, aligned with ODRL's Party and FOAF's Agent.
Content: A digital or physical object (e.g., text, image, video) subject to rights, aligned with ODRL's Asset and Dublin Core's Resource.
Right: A specific entitlement or permission associated with content, held by one or more entities, aligned with ODRL's Permission, Prohibition, or Duty.
RightsRelationship: A relationship between rights, such as derivation or licensing, extending ODRL's Policy relationships.
Condition: A contextual factor (e.g., time, location) that constrains the applicability of a right, aligned with ODRL's Constraint.

Ontology Specification

This ontology extends the ODRL Model and incorporates elements from Dublin Core, FOAF, and CC REL to model multi-entity rights over content.

ád

Classes

Entity

Represents an individual, organization, or system capable of holding rights, extending ODRL's Party and FOAF's Agent.

Subclasses: Person, Organization, AutomatedAgent
Attributes: odrl:uid, foaf:name, dc:identifier

Content

Represents the object over which rights are defined, extending ODRL's Asset and Dublin Core's Resource.

Attributes: odrl:uid, dc:type, dc:created

Right

Represents a specific right or permission, extending ODRL's Permission, Prohibition, or Duty.

Subclasses: MoralRight (e.g., attribution, aligned with CC REL), EconomicRight (e.g., licensing), DataProtectionRight (e.g., privacy)
Attributes: odrl:action, cc:license

RightsRelationship

Represents a relationship between rights, extending ODRL's Policy relationships (e.g., odrl:agreement, odrl:offer).

Attributes: odrl:relation, relationshipType (e.g., license, transfer)

Condition

Represents a constraint on a right, aligned with ODRL's Constraint.

Attributes: odrl:constraint, odrl:operator, odrl:value (e.g., temporal, geographic)

Properties

holder

Links a Right to one or more Entity instances, extending ODRL's odrl:assigner or odrl:assignee.

Domain: Right
Range: Entity

appliesTo

Associates a Right with the Content, aligned with ODRL's odrl:target.

Domain: Right
Range: Content

hasType

Specifies the type of right, extending ODRL's odrl:action (e.g., use, reproduce).

Domain: Right
Range: RightType

subjectTo

Links a Right to one or more Condition instances, aligned with ODRL's odrl:constraint.

Domain: Right
Range: Condition

sourceRight

Identifies the originating Right in a RightsRelationship, extending ODRL's odrl:policy.

Domain: RightsRelationship
Range: Right

targetRight

Identifies the resulting Right in a RightsRelationship.

Domain: RightsRelationship
Range: Right

relationshipType

Specifies the nature of a RightsRelationship, extending ODRL's odrl:relation (e.g., license, transfer).

Domain: RightsRelationship
Range: RelationshipType

Axioms

Each Right must have at least one holder and one appliesTo relationship, per ODRL's policy structure.
MoralRight instances are inalienable, aligned with CC REL's non-transferable rights (e.g., cc:attribution).
RightsRelationship must link a sourceRight to a targetRight with a defined relationshipType, consistent with ODRL's odrl:policy.
Condition instances may constrain the scope of a Right, using ODRL's odrl:constraint model.

Examples

Co-Authorship Scenario

Two entities, Person A and Person B, co-author a digital article. Both hold moral and economic rights. The ontology models:

Content: The article (odrl:Asset, dc:type="text").
Right: MoralRight (attribution, cc:attribution) for A and B; EconomicRight (licensing, odrl:use) shared equally.
holder: Links A and B (odrl:Party, foaf:Agent) to the rights.
Condition: Attribution persists indefinitely (odrl:constraint).

Licensing Scenario

Entity A grants Entity B a non-exclusive license to use a video. The ontology models:

Content: The video (odrl:Asset, dc:type="video").
Right: EconomicRight (usage, odrl:use) held by B.
RightsRelationship: License (odrl:agreement) from A’s EconomicRight to B’s EconomicRight.
Condition: Usage limited to one year (odrl:constraint).

Implementation Considerations

Implementers can use this ontology with RDF/OWL for machine-readable representations, leveraging ODRL's policy framework. Potential applications include:

Digital rights management systems for collaborative platforms, using ODRL policies.
Smart contracts on blockchain for transparent rights tracking, aligned with ODRL's odrl:agreement.
Integration with Creative Commons licenses (cc:license) for open content.
Metadata interoperability with Dublin Core (dc:identifier, dc:type) and FOAF (foaf:Agent).

Implementers should align with applicable legal frameworks (e.g., GDPR for DataProtectionRight) and ensure compatibility with ODRL's vocabulary and profiles.

References

Normative References

ODRL-MODEL: Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) Information Model 2.2. W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/TR/odrl-model/
RDF: Resource Description Framework (RDF). W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/RDF/
OWL: Web Ontology Language (OWL). W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/OWL/
DC: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Terms. https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dcmi-terms/
FOAF: Friend of a Friend (FOAF) Vocabulary. http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec/

Informative References

CC-REL: Creative Commons Rights Expression Language. https://creativecommons.org/ns
GDPR: General Data Protection Regulation. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj

Acknowledgments

This draft is inspired by the ODRL Model, Creative Commons, and discussions on rights-based approaches to intellectual property in digital contexts, drawing from human rights and open access principles.