Rights Committee
We help increase rights accessibility.
About the Rights Committee
The Rights Committee helps BISG develop, maintain, and advocate for industry-wide best practices designed to support a standardized electronic transmission of a defined set of rights information between trading partners. Accurately communicating rights information between parties can grow revenue, reduce transaction costs, and avoid costly errors.
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Committee Chair:Kris Kliemann, Kliemann & Company Join this committee Committee charter |
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Committee Objectives
- Identify the most important problems facing the publishing industry in rights
- Identify areas of consensus where standards would be valuable
- Pilot a rights taxonomy across multiple parts of the book publishing industry
- Make rights information more accessible for both internal and external audiences to improve publishers’ ability to financially benefit from their intellectual property
What We Do
Without rights there are no revenue streams. We help to develop the infrastructure required to obtain revenue from existing contracted deals, clarify “who owns what” to reduce instances in which rights transactions are considered too difficult to monetize, and recommend the investment in systems to track agreements and monetize rights investments to build and keep up with transaction volume.
“The rights committee comprises agents, vendors, academics, and specialist consultants, as well as publishers, all coming together to find sustainable, practical solutions that will work across the ecosystem. We don't just talk about the daily problems we encounter as rights professionals, but we take steps to try to fix them. Knowing that you can really have an impact, not just on making your job better and more fulfilling, but the jobs of your peers in the rights community, as well as playing a part in moving the publishing industry itself forwards, is very rewarding.”
Clare Hodder
RightsZone
When We Meet
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The Rights Committee meets monthly via Zoom; our full meeting cycle for 2025 is listed below. Meetings are held 11 AM - 12 PM ET. You can also see our meeting schedule on our event page. Tuesday, January 21 (to accommodate MLK holiday) |
What We Produce
From a white paper on publishing rights and a vendor grid to a taxonomy for managing rights, royalties, and permissions across the supply chain, we aim to make rights information more accessible across all audiences.
Click here to browse a complete list of Rights Committee work.
Committee Working Groups
Working groups are typically made up of a subgroup of committee members who work on a specific issue or issues related to this committee. The current Rights working groups, which meet via Zoom, include:
- Royalty statement standards
Rights Royalty Statement Standards Working Group Schedule
Meetings are held 11 AM - 12 PM ET
Thursday, January 9
Thursday, March 6
Thursday, May 8
Thursday, July 10
Thursday, September 4
Thursday, November 6
- Rights imprint directory
- "Frequently Asked Questions" maintenance team
Rights FAQ: The Basics
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."
The processes used to sell, license, or manage rights to works, including whole works or permission to use part of a work, are collectively referred to as "rights out."
The types and nature of rights are constantly evolving. The list of potential rights, which is not intended to be exhaustive, includes:
- Audio
- Large print
- Book club
- Co-edition, co-publishing
- Digital adaptations
- Dramatic TV Film
- Commercial/ Merchandising/Brand
- Adaptations for comic books/graphic novels
- E-book (static or enhanced)
- Education school/ classroom use (coursepack)
- Paperback and hardcover reprint (in the publisher’s own territory)
- English language not US
- Translation rights
- Electronic database
Have other questions about rights and royalties? A full Rights FAQ is available here.
Explore Our Committees
Metadata Committee Subject Codes Committee Supply Chain Committee Workflow Committee
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