Rights Committee Charter (2026)

Defining "Rights" as a focus of this committee

In book publishing, “Rights”  is often shorthand for “Rights Business” and usually refers to one of two important workflows:

• Rights “Out”: Intellectual Property (IP) rights are licensed "out" by the authorized rightsholder (a person or entity that is either the creator of the work or a grantee/assignee of the creator). Book rights are typically licensed “out” from authors, from authors’ agents, and/or from Rights Departments within publishing companies. Sometimes called “Rights Sold.”
  

• Rights “In”: typically, rights are licensed “in” by  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. Sometimes called “Rights Acquired” or “Rights Bought.”

Note: when rights are licensed “out” to a book publisher, that publisher is licensing “in” a set of  rights that typically enable publication of a book in a variety of formats. These rights allowing publication are often called “primary rights.”   That same agreement between rightsholder and book publisher may also include the publisher acquiring a set of rights that the publisher is empowered to license “out” to others. These are referred to as “secondary” or “subsidiary” rights. 

In some cases (e.g., a “work made for hire”), the creator of the work may assign and transfer  copyright in the work to another person or entity (e.g, a publisher)—instead of licensing a limited subset of rights—thus the terms “license”, “grant”, “transfer”, and “assign” cannot be used interchangeably.

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 and digital publication and republication (in many formats, in designated territories), e-book (static or enhanced), audiobook; large print; book club editions; digital adaptations (beyond e-books); dramatic, TV, film, video, and podcast; commercial, merchandising, and brand; adaptations (for example, abridgements, board books, picturizations, comics, and 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 right to license e-books or audiobooks to aggregators who, in turn, offer collections of titles to their customers on a subscription or streaming service is a relatively new type of right, as is the fast developing and frequently discussed market for licensing book content to companies for use in training Large Language Model (LLM) Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as companies who are building other types of AI-based platforms and tools. 

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 rightsholders 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 holds which rights” would reduce instances in which rights transactions either don’t happen at all for lack of contract details, or  are considered too difficult to monetize. Investing in systems to track agreements and monetize rights investments can enable rights holders to  build and keep up with transaction volume.

• Improving what we know about rights holders (such as who owns rights to content) and related rights can generate meaningful rights revenue, as organizations identify and take advantage of opportunities to increase revenues through new rights licensing initiatives.

• Hybrid and remote work models 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, 2021, and 2023.

• The rights space is increasingly impacted by AI. Some rights professionals are developing contractual language to allow authors to choose to include or exclude their IP from being used to train AI with or without compensation for that use. AI-powered tools to streamline and enhance rights and royalty management are increasingly available. 

• Copyright violation is accelerating. For works made available in digital forms, copying and unauthorized use are persistent issues. Digital technology creates greater opportunities for piracy and rights violations. Violation of copyright is disruptive across the industry, weakening the value of legitimate rights transactions.

• Both tools and challenges are monitored by the Rights Committee in tandem with BISG’s AI Working Group. The website https://www.copyright.gov/ai/ offers a credible source for AI’s impact on copyright.

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 meet on a monthly basis in 2026 except August.

Stakeholder Impact/Benefits

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

• Rights professionals who need core skills and an understanding of the relevant technology, including professionals within book publishers and within literary agencies, with experience levels ranging from new to veteran 

• Those making rights-related investment decisions who need to understand the opportunities available through improved rights management, including its importance to calculations of corporate profitability and M&A value

• Publishing professionals whose work touches upon rights, and who may not fully understand rights management and its implications for their roles (i.e. editors and others who are acquiring rights but are not exclusively rights professionals) 

• Companies and vendors operating in rights marketplaces, including those capitalizing on the AI boom who are new to the book industry rights field

Accurately communicating rights information between rights holders and potential licensees can grow revenue, save time to make deals rather than exchange emails, reduce transaction costs, and aid in diminishing legal risks and costly errors. Making rights information more accessible for both internal and external interested parties  also improves publishers’ ability to financially benefit from their intellectual property.

Deliverables

In 2026, the Rights Committee will:

1. Organize and host the Doing Rights Right 2026 event in NYC on Friday, January 23 and support planning for Doing Rights Right 2027

2. Advocate for industry-wide adoption of the Translation Rights Royalty Statement Standard, focusing on uptake from publishers, agents, and systems vendors

3. Advance and support the Book Publishing Next initiative to develop and modernize industry standards, including industry-wide adoption of the Translation Rights Royalty Standard and proposed development of other standards for rights

4. Rethink, update, and publish the Rights Solutions Providers List

5. Offer support and engagement opportunities for new student members following the introduction of the new student dues level

Blockers

• 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. 

• Different parts of the rights community see problems in different ways and pursue solutions with different methods and, at times, conflicting objectives. 

• Rights terminology is inconsistent, varying across both markets and publisher types.