The Open Digital Rights Language: XML for Digital Rights Management

Digital Rights Management (DRM) covers a broad area of intellectual property management and enforcement. DRM aims to provide secure and trusted services to control the use and distribution of content. DRM technologies have evolved from the primarily enforcement-centric view to a more recent comprehensive value-chain view that manages secure content at all stages of the lifecycle. A fundamental feature of DRM systems and standards that are now appearing is the ''Rights Expression Language'' (REL). The REL is an XML-based language that captures the information required for DRM transactions, from the rights holder down to the allowable usages for end users. DRM systems need to produce and understand RELs to enable the trusted experience. One of the more successful RELs is the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL). ODRL was created in 2000 to meet the needs of a wide range of requirements from different sectors. It has recently been adopted by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) as the REL used in its DRM specifications for mobile content. This paper will provide a brief overview of DRM followed by a detailed look at the ODRL language and its use of XML. Finally, the OMA profile of ODRL will be reviewed to show how XML-based RELs are being used and extended by the community.