Licensing Workflow Overview¶
This diagram illustrates the normal workflow which occurs when an IPC releases a DBL entry to an LCH partner, through the process of establishing a license agreement for that content.
Optional Step - An LCH may search a DBL entries catalog and initiate a request to the IPC for a specific entry. Granting access to an entry for a specific LCH can also be initiated by the IPC. Steps 2 through 5 for an IPC to configure a license agreement and grant access to an entry is the same in either case.
An IPC member with Licenser role chooses to grant access to a DBL entry for a specific LCH by initiating a new license agreement. If a request was made by the LCH (step 1), the IPC may opt to decline the request at this point.
The terms of the license agreement are configured by the IPC Licenser and a grant is made. This includes:
- Selecting or verifying the correct entry from the DBL catalog.
- Selecting a suitable licensing document.
- Specifying an expiry date (duration) for the agreement.
- Set the entry Content Options.
- Configure the LCH’s configurable Service Options.
The LCH reviews the grant and chooses to accept or decline it.
If accepted, the license agreement is recorded and access for the LCH to download the entry is enabled.
A detailed description of each of the steps for IPCs and LCHs is provided in the following sections:
The following section: Creating and Reviewing License Agreements, provides a guide to the administration tools available for reviewing the status of requests, current license agreements, and agreement expiries.
Note
There are cases where an IPC may prefer to share content from DBL under a kind of open access or free distribution arrangement. In these cases a license agreement grant to a specific LCH is not required and the steps for doing this are somewhat different than the default licensing workflow described above. See the section on Releasing Content for Open Access for details.