Weekly News Digest

Copyright Clearance Center (CCC; www.copyright.com) has announced the beta launch of Ozmo (www.ozmo.com), a web-based service that makes it easy for independent content creators to license the use of their work for commercial purposes and for content users to tap into the user-generated content found online. Ozmo puts artists and writers in control; they select their license terms and set the price for the use of their content. Then, CCC puts its 3 decades of licensing expertise to work. CCC handles the entire licensing process, and all payments go through Amazon’s Flexible Payment Service when a license is purchased. With Ozmo, buyers know instantly that they have the right to use the content and sellers know how their content is being used.

There are no setup fees with Ozmo, and content creators can license as much content as they want. Payment is collected from the buyer when the rights are purchased. Ozmo even helps sellers track and manage sales and buying trends. Ozmo supports the Creative Commons CC+ protocol for bridging the gap between commercial and noncommercial licensing. Content creators can apply the Creative Commons link for noncommercial use and the Ozmo link for commercial use.

Buyers, such as design firms, publishers, bloggers, and other journalists, who want to tap in to the fresh content available through Ozmo can do so by searching the Ozmo website or clicking on the Ozmo link wherever they find it online. CCC handles the billing, the buyer receives the license by email, and the content creator gets paid.

Source: Copyright Clearance Center