7. Rightsholder and User Issues
B. User Issues (continued)
User Participation
Users discover service providers through marketing, word of mouth, knowledge of industry traditions, or after they have been confronted with a charge of infringement. Marketing remains a primary method for attracting users, even for sectors in which the traditions for managing intellectual property rights and content distribution are well known. Standard marketing and public relations strategies are used (e.g., direct mail, telemarketing, event sponsorship, etc.); many organizations work with constituent groups (like sponsoring or founding associations) to disseminate information through their organizational channels. Consortium projects often inform their communities and others about their work in professional journals, newsletters, World Wide Web sites, project reports at conferences and other venues, and demonstration projects.
When a user identifies an appropriate service provider, contact is initiated through conventional means such as written correspondence, phone, fax, or e-mail. Full-fledged participation (beyond initial inquiries) is increasingly taking place via a provider’s Web site. Many of these sites are equipped with features (e.g., searchable databases, selection and order placement, licensing approval, payment, and content delivery) that make it easier for users with electronic access to take full advantage of service providers’ offerings. Users who wish to make use of a provider’s Web site offerings may be required to register at the site before gaining online access to its repertoire and tools. This registration requirement gives the provider a chance to establish the user’s identity and legitimacy, to track usage of the site, and to cull out serious users from "visitors."
Providers that do not offer online access to their repertoires have staff members who are available to work with users and help them identify content relevant to their purposes. Some providers offer these services for free; others charge an hourly fee. At least one provider (the Bridgeman Art Library, an art image provider) allows users to visit its offices to personally review the items in its repertoire.9
Users enter into one of a number of possible agreements with service providers. The most commonly used agreement is a license, which is a contract listing the issues that both the user and the service provider agree to. Licenses for the use of intellectual property typically define the type of content, how it can or cannot be used, authorized users, the means of distributing the content, warranties and indemnifications, security requirements, termination provisions, payment, and required acknowledgments. While certain clauses are standard in all licenses, in general a license is a variable document open to negotiation and amendment.10 (For more information on licensing, see Chapter 8, Section D, "Licenses".)
Another way for a user to access content is by subscription, which allows limited access to all the intellectual property in a repertoire for a set period of time, but severely restricts further use without a license. For consortium projects, permission to use content may be implied by virtue of participation in the project, although frequently consortium members develop consensus documents outlining commonly derived goals for use. These documents may not be legally enforceable instruments, but they clarify for all members the acceptable terms for uses within the consortium. Consortia may use these documents as the basis for subsequent licensing and subscription schemes.