DocuRights is a patent-pending, secure electronic copyright system that facilitates P2P syndication of STM (Scientific, Technical and Medical) content on the Internet.

Delivery of scholarly content in electronic format is being revolutionized by a new breed of distributed storage networks such as Napster, Gnutella and FreeNet that operate on the World Wide Web. These technologies allow users to copy and share files between themselves, rather than passing them through a central point of control, such as a publisher's web server.

At one level these storage networks threaten the integrity of publishers' copyrights; but they also generate substantial new opportunities for publishers that appropriately protect their content:

"As for copyright, it is by no means certain that Napster et al will kill it. On the contrary, storage networks could become a highly efficient means for "super-distribution"- disseminating content that is wrapped in a cryptographic envelope to protect it. You can download these files for free, but before you can open them they will ask you to send some money to a clearing house." (The Economist, June 24, 2000)

DocuRights provides precisely this form of cryptographic envelope that enables publishers to control content even when the physical file is no longer on a publisher's server. DocuRights de-couples document access from Web-site access by "wrapping" the document in a secure container. This means that a DocuRight document is protected regardless of its physical location on the Internet. This subtle shift in rights management, made possible by DocuRights, unleashes the full potential of "superdistribution" and brings many new benefits to readers, libraries, corporations and publishers:

Benefits to Publishers:

• Publishers achieve maximum, hassle-free propagation of their PDFs on the Internet, while ensuring the integrity of their copyright.
• Publishers' revenue is maximized, because users are fee to re-distribute documents to colleagues and friends.
• DocuRights interfaces with a Cybercash eCommerce database providing automated billing and cash collection.
• Publishers can deploy DocuRights with minimal administrative overhead.
• DocuRights supports a variety of payment models: pay-per-document, subscription, bulk reprints, course packs, etc.
• Publishers can maximize their Internet visibility by allowing third party Web sites to host their PDFs.
• DocuRights supports alternative commercial models, such as enumerated access to advertising/sponsorship -supported distribution of free documents. With DocuRights a publisher can also specify the duration of a "free preview" before the document on a user's computer reverts to "pay-per-view".

Benefits to Individual Readers:

• Convenient access to valuable and useful PDFs. Users don't need to remember multiple passwords and are not restricted in their ability to physically re-distribute documents.
• With DocuRights, readers retain their fair-use rights, and the perpetual use of the documents on specific computer(s).
• DocuRights can be used to access individual articles, subscriptions or textbooks.

Benefits to Corporations and Libraries:

• Automatic tracking of copyright compliance. Many organizations such as pharmaceutical companies expend significant resources to ensure compliance with copyright law. With DocuRights this overhead cost disappears - for example, a pharmaceutical company can purchase a scientific article with a predetermined number of fair-uses.
• Archival. Documents distributed with the DocuRights secure container technology can be freely replicated and stored in multiple locations without compromising the publisher's copyright. This means that DocuRights overcomes publisher's natural reticence to allow multiple archives and local storage of electronic files.
• Open Architecture. DocuRights has an open architecture meaning that multiple trusted organizations can build E-Commerce applications capable of legitimately accessing DocuRights documents. This means that libraries and companies will have a choice of vendors each providing different value-added services such as aggregation.