Based on ideas that have arisen at recent conversations and working sessions at IPTC member meetings, we have built a simple service that supports the most common news syndication rights restrictions and permissions. We call it simplerights.iptc.org.

Based on the IPTC’s RightsML standard, which is effectively the same as the W3C’s ODRL, the service allows simple RightsML restrictions to be expressed as simple web URIs (Uniform Resource Indicators). For example, a simple geographic restriction “may be used everywhere except Belgium” can be expressed as https://simplerights.iptc.org/geo/exceptfor/BE.

We have created simple expressions for the following restrictions:

Geographic restriction

• http://simplerights.iptc.org/geo/only/EE – only usable in Estonia
• http://simplerights.iptc.org/geo/exceptfor/EE – usable anywhere other than Estonia
• http://simplerights.iptc.org/geo/only/US – only usable in the United States
• http://simplerights.iptc.org/geo/exceptfor/US – usable anywhere other than the United States

Date restriction

• http://simplerights.iptc.org/date/until/2025-04-17 – only usable until 2025-04-17 (expires)
• http://simplerights.iptc.org/date/after/2025-01-01 – only usable after 2025-01-01 (embargo)

Platform restriction

• http://simplerights.iptc.org/platform/only/web – only usable on Web platform
• http://simplerights.iptc.org/platform/exceptfor/tv – not usable on TV

See Usage Terms restriction

• http://simplerights.iptc.org/seeterms – consumer must consult Usage Terms information to determine rights

If these URLs are accessed over the web, then they return a human-readable web page explaining the restriction.

If the same URLs are accessed by software, then various forms of the ODRL policy are returned. The request can return RDF information in JSON-LD, RDF/XML and Turtle formats, depending on the query parameters or HTTP Accept headers provided in the request. This mechanism is known as HTTP Content Negotiation.

For more complicated RightsML / ODRL constraints, the RightsML Generator that we announced earlier this week may be useful. This tool will allow users to generate rights statements that include more than one restriction at the same time, which is something that the simplerights service cannot currently do.

simplerights.iptc.org is released as a beta service and should not be relied upon in production at this stage. We reserve the right to change the API and URI structure in the final version of the service.

We see this service as potentially a step towards a commercial rights expressions service that is as simple to use as Creative Commons URL-based licences for common, simple use cases.

The simplerights.iptc.org service will be presented at the IPTC Spring Meeting which will be held in Juan les Pins, France from Wednesday to Friday of this week (14-16 May 2025).

We welcome feedback on the usefulness of the service and how we could improve it in the future. Please contact the IPTC via our Contact Form if you have feedback or suggestions.