ODRL Version 2.1 Ontology
The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) provides flexible and interoperable mechanisms to support transparent and innovative use of digital content in publishing, distribution, and consumption of of digital media across all sectors and communities. The ODRL Policy model is broad enough to support traditional rights expressions for commercial transaction, open access expressions for publicly distributed content, and privacy expressions for social media.
ODRL 2.1 (Turtle)
ODRL 2.1 (RDF/XML)
ODRL 2.1 (XML Schema Definition)
ODRL 2.1 (HTML)
ODRL Actions vocabulary
Asset
Asset is anything which can be subject to a policy. Asserting that something the target of a policy implies that it is an Asset.
Party
An entity which can participate in policy transactions. Use an instance of the Party class where it's necessary to associate a Scope with the relationship; in other cases, simply reference the party directly.
Policy
A top level entity for describing policies.
Instances of ConflictTerm describe policies for resolving conflicts.
Conflict term
Permissions
Permissions take precedence over prohibitions.
Prohibit
Prohibitions take precedence over permissions.
Instances of UndefinedTerm describe policies for processing unsupported actions.
Undefined values
Ignore
Undefined actions should be ignored.
Invalid
The policy is invalidated.
Support
Undefined actions do not invalidate the policy, but notification for review must occur.
conflict
Relates a conflict-resolution mechansim to a Policy. If no mechanism is specified, the default is invalid.
undefined
Relates the mechanism used for handling undefined actions to a Policy. If no mechanism is specified, the default is invalid.
permission
Relates the description of an individual Permission to a Policy. A permission can be specified either in terms of an Action alone, or an instance of Permission relating an Action and one or more other attributes.
prohibition
Relates the description of an individual Prohibition to a Policy. A prohibition can be specified either in terms of an Action alone, or an instance of Prohibition relating an Action and one or more other attributes.
inheritance allowed
A boolean value indicating whether this policy can be inherited from.
inherits from
Relates a policy to another policy from which terms are inherited.
profile
indicates the identifier of the ODRL Profile for which the policy expression conforms to
Rule
An abstract common ancestor to Permissions, Prohibitions and Duties.
Permission
A Permission is a rule which indicates the actions the assignee is permitted to perform on the associated asset. In other words, what the assigner (supplier) has granted to the assignee (consumer).
Prohibition
A Prohibition is a rule which indicates the Actions that the assignee is prohibited to perform on the related Asset.
Duty
A Duty is a rule which indicates requirements which must be fulfilled in order to receive the permission.
Instances of Action are things one might be permitted to do or prohibited from doing to a work.
Action
Constraint
Parent class of all Constraints.
relation
Relation is an abstract property which creates an explicit link between an Action and an Asset. Sub-properties of relation are used to define the nature of that link.
output
The output property specifies the Asset which is created from the output of the Action.
target
The target property specifies the Asset upon which the Action is performed.
function
Function is an abstract property whose sub-properties define the roles which may be fulfilled by a party in relation to a Rule.
action
The operation relating to the asset for which permission is being granted. A permission must include exactly one action.
constraint
One or more constraints which affect the validity of the Permission; e.g. if the Action play is only permitted for a certain period of time.
duty
A Duty indicates requirements which must be fulfilled in order to receive the permission.
unit
The unit of measurement used for the constraint value.
operator
The Boolean operator applied to a constraint and its operand.
right-operand
The operand applied to an instance of a constraint. Do not use the right-operand property directly within a Constraint. Instead, a Constraint instance must contain exactly one triple which makes use of one of the sub-properties of right-operand.
status
The current value of the constraint. The range of the status property is identical to that of the operand property selected used in the constraint.
Operator
Instances of the Operator class represent boolean operators
Equal to
Indicating that a given value equals the operand of the Constraint.
Greater than
Greater than or equal to
Has part
Is a
Is all of
Is any of
Is none of
Is part of
Less than
Less than or equal to
Not equal to
Use
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignee to use the Asset as agreed. More details may be defined in the applicable agreements or under applicable commercial laws. Refined types of actions can be expressed by the narrower actions.
Grant use
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignee to grant the use the Asset to third parties. This action enables the Assignee to create policies for the use of the Asset for third parties. nextPolicy is recommended to be agreed with the third party. Use of temporal constraints is recommended.
Compensate
The Assigner requires that the Assignees compensates the Assigner (or other specified compensation Party) by some amount of value, if defined, for use of the Asset. The compensation may use different types of things with a value: (i) the thing is expressed by the value (term) of the Constraint name; (b) the value is expressed by operator, rightOperand, dataType and unit
Accept tracking
The Assigner requires that the Assignees accepts that the use of the Asset may be tracked. The collected information may be tracked by the Assigner, or may link to a Party with the role function “trackingParty”.
Aggregate
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to use the Asset or parts of it as part of a composite collection.
Annotate
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to add explanatory notations/commentaries to the Asset without modifying the Asset in any other way.
Anonymize
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to anonymize all or parts of the Asset. For example, to remove identifying particulars for statistical or for other comparable purposes, or to use the asset without stating the author/source.
Append
The act of adding to the end of an asset.
Append to
The act of appending data to the Asset without modifying the Asset in any other way
Archive
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to store the Asset (in a non-transient form). Constraints may be used for temporal conditions.
Attribute
The Assigner requires that the Assignees attributes the Asset to the Assigner or an attributed Party. May link to an Asset with the attribution information. May link to a Party with the role function “attributedParty”.
Concurrent use
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to create multiple copies of the Asset that are being concurrently used.
Copy
The act of making an exact reproduction of the asset.
Delete
The Assigner requires that the Assignees permanently removes all copies of the Asset. Use a constraint to define under which conditions the Asset should be deleted.
Derive
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to create a new derivative Asset from this Asset and to edit or modify the derivative. A new asset is created and may have significant overlaps with the original Asset. (Note that the notion of whether or not the change is significant enough to qualify as a new asset is subjective). To the derived Asset a next policy may be applied.
Digitize
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to produce a digital copy of (or otherwise digitize) the Asset from its analogue form.
Display
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to display the visual media Asset to an audience or the public. For example, displaying an image on a screen.
Distribute
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to distribute the Asset.
Ensure exclusivity
The Assignee requires that the Assigners ensure that the permission on the Asset is exclusive to the Assignee.
Execute
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to run the computer program Asset. For example, machine executable code or Java such as a game or application.
Export
The act of transforming the asset into a new form.
Extract
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to extract parts of the Asset and to use it as a new Asset. A new asset is created and may have very little in common with the original Asset. (Note that the notion of whether or not the change is significant enough to qualify as a new asset is subjective). To the extracted Asset a next policy may be applied.
Give
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to transfer the ownership of the Asset to a third party without compensation and while deleting the original asset.
Include
The Assigner requires that the Assignees include other related assets in the Asset. For example: bio picture must be included in the attribution. Use of the Asset relation attribute is required.
Index
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to record the Asset in an index. For example, to include a link to the Asset in a search engine database.
Inform
The Assigner requires that the Assignees inform the Assigner or an informed Party that an action has been performed on or in relation to the Asset. May link to a Party with the role function “informedParty”.
Install
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to load the computer program Asset onto a storage device which allows operating or running the Asset.
Lease
The act of making available the asset to a third-party for a fixed period of time with exchange of value.
License
The act of granting the right to use the asset to a third-party.
Lend
The act of making available the asset to a third-party for a fixed period of time without exchange of value.
Modify
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to update existing content of the Asset. A new asset is not created by this action. This action will modify an asset which is typically updated from time to time without creating a new asset like a database. If the result from modifying the asset should be a new asset the actions derive or extract should be used. (Note that the notion of whether or not the change is significant enough to qualify as a new asset is subjective).
Move
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to move the Asset from one digital location to another including deleting the original copy. After the Asset has been moved, the original copy must be deleted.
Next policy
The Assigner requires that the Assignees grants the specified Policy to a third party for their use of the Asset.
Obtain consent
The Assigner requires that the Assignees obtains explicit consent from the Assigner or a consenting Party to perform the requested action in relation to the Asset. Used as a Duty to ensure that the Assigner or a Party is authorized to approve such actions on a case-by-case basis. May link to a Party with the role function “consentingParty”.
Pay
The act of paying a financial amount to a party for use of the asset.
Play
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to perform an audio Asset to an audience.
Present
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to perform or exhibit an Asset to an audience.
Preview
The act of providing a short preview of the asset.
Print
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to print an Asset onto paper or to create a hard copy. For example, creating a permanent, fixed (static), and directly perceivable representation of the Asset.
Read
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to obtain data from the Asset. For example, the ability to read a record from a database (the Asset).
Reproduce
The act of making an exact reproduction of the asset. The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to make exact reproductions of the Asset.
Review policy
The Assigner requires that the Assignees have a person review the Policy applicable to the Asset. Used when human intervention is required to review the Policy. May link to an Asset which represents the full Policy information.
Secondary use
The act of using the asset for a purpose other than the purpose it was intended for.
Sell
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to transfer the ownership of the Asset to a third party with compensation and while deleting the original asset.
Text-to-speech
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to have a text Asset read out loud to an audience.
Transfer
The Assigner transfers/does not transfer the ownership in perpetuity to the Assignees.
Transform
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to make a digital copy of the digital Asset in another digital format. Typically used to convert the Asset into a different format for consumption on/transfer to a third party system.
Translate
The Assigner permits/prohibits the Assignees to translate the original natural language of an Asset into another natural language. A new derivative Asset is created by that action.
Uninstall
The Assigner requires that the Assignees unload and delete the computer program Asset from a storage device and disable its readiness for operation. The Asset is no longer accessible to the Assignees.
Watermark
The Assigner requires that the Assignees apply a watermark as provided by the Assigner to the Asset. It is recommended to embed a link to the watermark.
Write
The act of writing to the asset.
Write to
The act of adding data to the Asset.
absolute position
A point defined with absolute coordinates.
absolute size
The absolute dimension that the Asset may be resized.
count
The numeric count indicating the number of times the corresponding entity may be exercised
date/time
The date (and optional time and timezone) representing a point in time or period.
delivery channel
The delivery channel used for storing or communicating the asset.
device
An identifiable computing system.
SystemDevice
elapsed time
A period of time in which the policy action can be exercised.
event
Specification of a defined event applicable to the asset usage.
Policy usage time
When used as an event in constraints, indicates that the event occurs at the time when the policy is executed.
file format
The file format applicable to the Asset.
industry
The defined industry sector applicable to the asset usage
language
The natural language applicable to the asset usage
media
The media type in which the asset may be used.
metered time
The maximum period of metered usage time.
payment amount
percentage
The amount (as a percentage) of the action applicable to the asset.
product
The specified Product or Service name.
purpose
Specification of a defined purpose applicable to the asset usage.
recipient
The party that receives the result of the Action on the Asset.
relative position
A point defined with reference to another position.
relative size
The relative dimension that the Asset may be resized.
resolution
The resolution at which the asset may be used.
spatial
A code representing a geospatial area.
system
time interval
Recurring period of time in which the usage may be exercised.
version
The scope of versions for the asset.
virtual location
Specification of a digital locale.
assignee
The Party is the recipient of the policy statement.
assigner
The Party is the issuer of the policy statement.
attributed party
The Party to be attributed.
consenting party
The Party to obtain consent from.
informed party
The Party to be informed of all uses.
payee party
The Party is the recipient of the payment.
The Party is the recipient of the compensation.
tracking party
The Party is the usage tracker.
Agreement
Policy expressions that are formal contracts (or licenses) stipulating all the terms of usage and all the parties involved.
Offer
An instance of Offer is a Policy expression that proposes terms of usage from an Asset owner.
Privacy
An instance of Privacy is a Policy expression that stipulates the terms of usage over personal information.
Request
An instance of Request is a Policy expression that proposes terms of usage to an Asset owner.
Set
An instance of Set is a Policy expression that consists of entities from the complete model.
Ticket
An instance of Ticket is a Policy expression that stipulates the terms of usage and is redeemable by any Party who currently holds the Ticket in their possession.
All
Specifies that the scope of the relationship is all of the collective individuals within a context.
All second-level connections
Specifies that the scope of the relationship is all of the second-level connections to the Party.
All connections
Specifies that the scope of the relationship is all of the first-level connections of the Party.
All groups
Specifies that the scope of the relationship is all of the group connections of the Party.
Group
Specifies that the scope of the relationship is the defined group with multiple individual members.
Individual
Specifies that the scope of the relationship is the single Party individual.
Ad-hoc sharing
The act of sharing the asset to parties in close proximity to the owner. This action may be used to express [OMA] Sharing semantics.
Extract character
The act of extracting (replicating) unchanged characters from the asset.
Extract page
The act of extracting (replicating) unchanged pages from the asset.
Extract word
The act of extracting (replicating) unchanged words from the asset.
Attach policy
The act of keeping the policy notice with the asset.
Attach source
The act of attaching the source of the asset and its derivatives.
Share-alike
The act of distributing any derivative asset under the same terms as the original asset.
Commercialize
The act of using the asset in a business environment.
Share
The act of the non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the asset to third-parties.
proximity
An value indicating the closeness or nearness.
timed count
The number of seconds after which timed metering use of the asset begins.