RSL 1.0 Draft Specification

Last updated: July 10, 2025

Elements

Element	Description
<rsl>	Top level element an RSL document
<content>	Identifies a digital asset
<license>	Defines licensing terms, costs, and restrictions for a digital asset
<permits>	Defines allowed uses granted by the license
<prohibits>	Defines prohibited uses or restrictions imposed by the license
<payment>	Compensation model of license
<standard>	Standard license rate card
<custom>	Custom license rate card
<amount>	License cost
<legal>	Legal statements about the license
<schema>	Provides additional structured information about the asset
<copyright>	Individual or organization that owns the asset licensing rights
<terms>	Additional information about licensing the asset

Element: <rsl>

<rsl> is the root element of an RSL document. It defines the namespace and contains one or more <content> elements, each of which describes a digital asset and its associated licensing terms.

Attributes

Attribute	Description
xmlns	(required) Specifies the XML namespace for RSL license files. Must be set to https://rslstandard.org/rsl.

Element: <content>

<content> is a required sub-element of <rsl>, and can appear multiple times within an <rsl> element, but each instance must define a distinct digital asset. This element identifies a licensable digital asset and associated license information.

Attributes

Attribute	Description
url	(required) Specifies the location of one or more licensable digital assets. The value must be either a full URL, or a path on the server (e.g., /content/images/) that follows the URL-matching rules of the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309), including support for the special characters * (matches any sequence of characters) and $ (matches the end of a path).
server	(optional) Specifies the URL of an RSL License Server that manages licenses for the digital asset. Note: if this attribute is present, clients must obtain a license for this asset, even if the license is free.
encrypted	(optional) Indicates whether the digital asset is encrypted. Must be set to true or false (default is false). Note: If encrypted is set to true, the server attribute must point to an RSL License Server that provides that provides the cryptographic key required to decrypt the file. See also Encrypting Content.
lastmod	(optional) Specifies the last modified date of the asset, formatted using RFC 3339.

Element: <license>

<license> is a required sub-element of <content>, and can appear multiple times within a <content> element, but each instance must define a distinct set of terms. This element defines licensing rights, costs, and restrictions for a digital asset.

Element: <permits>

<permits> is an optional sub-element of <license>, and can appear only once for each value of the type attribute. This element defines the allowed uses granted by the license. If present for a given type, the license is valid for all listed uses, and prohibits all other uses. If the <permits> element is not present for a given type, the license is valid for all uses defined by that type.

Attributes

Attribute	Description
type="usage"	Specifies permitted uses of the licensed asset, using a superset of the proposed IETF AI Usage Preference vocabulary. Entities must be one or more of the following values (comma-separated):  • all: Any automated processing, including AI training and search  • train-ai: Train an AI or generative AI model  • train-genai: Train a generative AI model  • ai-use: Use as input to a trained AI model (e.g., RAG)  • ai-summarize: Summarize as part of search or web page (e.g., overview)  • search: Build a search index and provide search results
type="user"	Specifies permitted end users of this license. Entities must be one or more of the following values (comma-separated):  • commercial: General commercial use  • nonCommercial: Non-commercial purposes  • education: Educational use in schools or universities  • government: Government or public sector purposes  • personal: Individual or personal use only
type="geo"	Restricts the permitted uses of the licensed digital asset to specific countries or regions. Entities must be one or more of the following values (comma-separated):  • ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (e.g., US, EU)

Element: <prohibits>

<prohibits> is an optional sub-element of <license> and can appear only once for each value of the type attribute. This element defines the prohibited uses or restrictions imposed by the license. If present for a given type, the license explicitly denies all listed uses, even if they are permitted by default or implied elsewhere. If the <prohibits> element is not present for a given type, the license is assumed to prohibit no specific uses within that type.

Attributes

This element accepts the same attributes as the <permits> element.

Element: <payment>

<payment> is an optional sub-element of <license>, and can appear only once for each value of the type attribute. This element defines the compensation model(s) for the permitted activities and usage rights granted by the enclosing <license> element. If the <payment> element is not present for a given <license>, the payment type is assumed to be free.

Note

If the parent <content> element defines a server attribute, clients must obtain a license from the license server, even if the license is free.

Attributes

Attribute

Description

type

(optional) Must be one of the following values:  • purchase: One-time payment for perpetual access  • subscription: Monthly recurring payment for access  • training: Payment every time the content is used for AI training  • crawl: Payment every time the content is crawled  • inference: Payment every time the content is used generate an AI output  • attribution: Give appropriate credit to content owner (see below)  • free: No payment or attribution required

Attribution Requirements

If the payment type is defined as attribution, the licensee must provide explicit credit to the copyright holder and/or author in accordance with the terms specified by the publisher. This attribution must include a visible, functional link back to the original content source when used in digital formats, ensuring that users can directly access the original work.

The attribution must clearly state the content's origin in a way that is reasonable and customary for the medium and context in which it is used, and encourage the user to engage with the original work.

Element: <standard>

<standard> is an optional sub-element of <payment>, and can appear multiple times. The element specifies the URL of a standard licensing agreement that defines a set of terms for the permitted activities and usage rights. The URL points to a web page that provides more information about the license terms.

Element: <custom>

<custom> is an optional sub-element of <payment>, and can appear only once. The element specifies the URL of a web page that provides more information about licensing terms and how information on how to obtain a license.

Element: <amount>

<amount> is an optional sub-element of <payment>, and can appear only once. The element specifies specifies the URL of a web page that defines a custom licensing agreement for the digital asset, including information about licensing terms and how to obtain a license.

Attributes

Attribute	Description
currency	(required) Defines the currency of the amount using the standard ISO 4217 currency codes (e.g., USD, EUR, BTC for Bitcoin)

Element: <legal>

<legal> is an optional sub-element of <license>, and can appear only once for each value of the type attribute. This element defines legal statements associated with the license (e.g., warranties, disclaimers) using a controlled vocabulary.

Attributes

Attribute	Description
type="warranty"	Declares warranties made by the licensor about the asset. Entities must be one or more of the following values (comma-separated):  • ownership: Licensor owns/controls copyright or exclusive licensing rights  • authority: Licensor is authorized to grant the rights described  • no-infringement: To licensor’s knowledge, the asset does not infringe third-party IP  • privacy-consent: Required consents for personal data in this asset have been obtained  • no-malware: Asset is free from malicious code and does not intentionally impair systems
type="disclaimer"	Declares disclaimers that qualify or negate warranties or liability. Entities must be one or more of the following values (comma-separated):  • as-is: Asset provided “as is”  • no-warranty: No express or implied warranties  • no-liability: Licensor disclaims liability for damages arising from use  • no-indemnity: Licensor does not provide indemnification

Element: <schema>

<schema> is an optional sub-element of <content>, and can appear only once. This element defines a URL that points to a Schema.org CreativeWork or Collection that provides additional metadata about the digital asset, including author, publisher, or date of creation.

Note

Schema.org CreativeWork declarations can use the license property to reference an RSL file that defines licensing terms and usage rights for the digital asset.

Element: <copyright>

<copyright> is an optional sub-element of <content>, and can appear only once. This element identifies the individual or organization that owns the licensing rights for a digital asset.

Attributes

Attribute	Description
type	(optional) Specifies whether the copyright holder is a person or an organization. Allowed values: person, organization.
contactEmail	(optional) An email address for inquiries or licensing negotiations with the copyright holder
contactUrl	(optional) A URL to a web-based contact method, such as a contact form or page

Element: <terms>

<terms> is an optional sub-element of <content>, and can appear only once. This element contains a URL pointing to a webpage with additional legal information about the license.