Standard Licenses

RSL enables multiple publishers or content owners to reference a shared set of licensing terms, such as open source or Creative Commons license frameworks, through the <standard> element. By pointing to a common license URL, different websites can declare that their content is governed by the same standard agreement. When a client application (e.g., an AI company) accepts the terms of the standard license, it gains access to all content covered by RSL licenses that reference that shared URL through their <standard> element.

In addition to supporting established licensing frameworks, the capability to easily define and implement shared licensing terms gives content owners the ability to unify their voices and negotiate collective licensing agreements with AI companies and other applications that require access to large collections of digital content, including websites, books, videos, and proprietary data.

Example Code: Collective Paid License

Below is an example RSL license that references the collective licensing terms published by rslcollective.org and is managed by the license server at https://rslcollective.org/api.

<rsl xmlns="https://rslstandard.org/rsl">
  <content url="/" server="https://rslcollective.org/api">
    <license>
      <payment type="royalty">
        <standard>https://rslcollective.org/license</standard>
      </payment>
    </license>
  </content>
</rsl>

Example Code: Standard Free License

Below is an example RSL license that references the Creative Commons standard licensing terms.

<rsl xmlns="https://rslstandard.org/rsl">
  <content url="/images/">
    <license>
      <payment type="attribution">
        <standard>https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</standard>
      </payment>
    </license>
  </content>
</rsl>