Multimedia Rights Clearance Systems
EFRIS
Extended Frankfurt Rights Information
System
EFRIS Contents
Page
Introduction
3
1.
Scope and Objectives
3
2.
Consortium and Roles of Participants
3
3.
Product Developed and Work Carried Out
4
4.
Results
4
5.
Obstacles
5
6.
Dissemination of Results
5
7.
Plans for Commercial Exploitation
7
Multimedia Rights Clearance Systems
EFRIS Extended Frankfurt Rights Information Systems
Introduction
The INFO2000 MMRCS project EFRIS - the Extended Frankfurt Rights Information
System – has been completed as planned by the end of April 2000 with the remaining
deliverables, notably the Pilot evaluation Report, the Marketing Plan and the Business
Plan delivered in June and July 2000.
Altogether, EFRIS turned out to be an effective instrument in
 Triggering innovation within the Frankfurt Book Fair both as a company and as an
industry platform.
 Creating a pilot Internet service that is widely successful and in
 Building bridges to other players and partners in the publishing and copyrighted
industries.
Thus, the key goals of the EFRIS project have been attained.
1.
Scope and Objectives
The EFRIS project set out to develop the electronic rights marketplace under the
‘Frankfurt Virtual’ banner leveraging the Frankfurt Book Fair’s pre-eminent position in
the book world through a combination of three elements which were described as
follows:
 A feasibility study investigating usage features and functions was conducted to
develop a business plan for the future of electronic rights trading at Frankfurt,
leveraging the Frankfurt Book Fair brand. This study investigated how the Catalogue
is used, what features and functions users require and what their expectations are for
the future of rights trading at the Book Fair.
 An interactive electronic rights information system which would allow registered
participants to update their own rights information and to directly contact other
rightsholders. The Frankfurt online electronic rights catalogue was piloted and the
pilot evaluated for the Frankfurt 99 event.
 A contribution to standardisation – a globally usable electronic rights information
system needs to interoperate with publishers’ and agents’ (et al) own rights
management systems. To do this, the use of registered or ‘de facto’ standards for
rights meta-data are essential.
The project was completed on time and according to the original proposal.
2.
Consortium and Roles of Participants
EFRIS was completed through close collaboration of FBF, Pira International (PIRA), the
UK-based printing, publishing and new media group, the Federation of European
Publishers (FEP) and dateam Intermedia, now mdc.de, the web design and new media
company. There was also extensive user involvement from the outset, via open forum
meetings at which the project was evaluated and developed.
3.
Product Developed and Work Carried Out
The activities and findings of the project have been integrated in the activities of the
Frankfurt Book Fair and its strategy planning and implementation to an extent that
sometimes blurs the distinction between what was part of EFRIS and what was already
subject to subsequent further developments undertaken by the Frankfurt Book Fair
itself.
For example, the content management system and the (meta-) data model developed
under EFRIS formed the initial point for a complete re-design of the Frankfurt Rignts
Catalogue and a complete re-launch of the Frankfurt Book Fair online information and
service platform (at www.frankfurt-book-fair.com) outlined in January and February
2000, commissioned immediately thereafter and implemented in time for the 52nd
Frankfurt Book Fair to go live on the Internet by September 2000.
The project was managed and co-ordinated according to the original proposal and
schedule.
Communication with partners by email, telephone and fax on an almost daily basis and
in various meetings was effective and without major problems. In the second half of the
project, a tightly woven network of exchanges and communications was established and
formed the necessary foundation for interaction between the partners in a highly
complex project.
All activities were carried out within the previously established budget and according to
the resources attributed to the individual project parties.
4.
Results
The EFRIS pilot launched in time at the 51st Frankfurt Book Fair in October 1999 was
well received and analysed and critically evaluated in the deliverable “Pilot Evaluation
Report.”
The growth in traffic as compared to the previous year 1998 was considerable.
The success of the EFRIS pilot in 1999 encouraged the Frankfurt Book Fair
management to keep all data live available – as opposed to previous years when rights
information was taken off the web site by the end of the year – and to turn the Frankfurt
Book Fair Catalogue – which is basically based on the EFRIS system – into a
continuous operation that allows updates and new registration of titles as well as
promotion and marketing efforts for the platform throughout the year.
Additionally to the planned interviews and surveys with users at the Frankfurt Book Fair,
the EFRIS Pilot could be exploited additionally in a partnership with the London Book
Fair in March 2000. Exhibitors at the London Book Fair were offered to register and
update titles from their spring 2000 collection for free. London and Frankfurt jointly
promoted this effort; At the London Book Fair a well attended panel discussion was
organised on the subject of the role of book fairs for the Internet based trade in rights
and licences; (For details see below at “Dissemination” and in the “EFRIS Marketing
Plan”).
The findings of the evaluation of the 1999 pilot was also an imminent and highly
valuable input in the outline of the re-building of the complete Frankfurt Rights
Catalogue executed in early 2000 and commissioned in spring 2000.
User feedback stated a clear support for the Frankfurt concept of combining rights
trading tools with marketing opportunities.
This resulted in the further enhancement of the marketing side of the system with the
development of so called “eStands” – virtual fair stands or web show windows for titles
that are generated automatically from the Frankfurt Rights Catalogue, the exhibitors
directory and the Who’s Who which then can be customized by the rights holder (the
exhibitor). As the rights catalogue was already developed, tested, and well received
under EFRIS, this added value was the logical next enhancement to implement.
Marketing for the new package was started at the BookEXPO America in June 2000,
with the re-designed platform going live on the Internet in early September.
The EFRIS pilot had been implemented in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair 1999 and is
available online – with unrestricted access – at www.frankfurt-book-fair.com
The pilot as broadcast in fall 1999 had a number of limitations as compared to the
original proposal. Notably it did not include the possibility of online updates or the
registration of new titles by the users. This was due to already mentioned staffings
problems at the technology partner, dateamInterMedia, and to resulting delays.
However in early 2000 – and just in time for the London Book Fair in March, a basic
version for online updates and title registration by users was implemented.
It provided an HTML form for data entry which was available online and allowed users to
access a password protected area. Subsequently, the data was sent by Email to the
Frankfurt staff and thus input into the EFRIS system.
5.
Obstacles
Certain elements of the 1999 pilot that could not be completed in time for the Frankfurt
Book Fair 1999 as scheduled – due to staffing difficulties at the technology partner
dateam InterMedia – have essentially been carried out in early 2000.
A certain delay of the last remaining reports – notably the Pilot Evaluation, the
Marketing Plan and the Business Plan – were due to the fact that the EFRIS findings
and experiences were tightly integrated in the actual ongoing strategy discussion and
planning within the Frankfurt Book Fair, and it seemed to be only reasonable to include
the results of this process in the reports. The internal strategy discussion was brought to
interim conclusion at the Frankfurt Book Fair in early July 2000, and the respective
deliverables were completed and submitted to the European Commission immediately
thereafter.
6.
Dissemination of Results
The efforts undertaken by the Frankfurt Book Fair within and around EFRIS to promote
and disseminate the concept of trading rights – both for books as for electronic
publications – were mirrored in a large number of articles in the international trade press
and various panels, not the least at the London Book Fair in March 2000.
Dissemination and awareness of the concept of a internet based rights trade were also
instrumental in the creation of various partnerships, e.g. between the Frankfurt and the
London Book Fairs despite them being competitors on the market of book fairs, but also
in activities beyond the scope of the EFRIS project, e.g. with a workshop sponsored by
the Frankfurt Book Fair planned for September 14, 2000, with attendance of the DOI
Foundation and the INDECS project focusing on an eventual future co-operation of the
Frankfurt Book Fair as a platform for the standardisation of identification codes for
electronic copyrighted items.
In Autumn 1999 - around the date of the Frankfurt Book Fair – the possibilities of
tradings rights over the Internet as proposed by the EFRIS model was widely debated
within the publishing industry.

The International Rights Director Meeting at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October
12, 1999, offered a forum to the debate.

The Frankfurt Book Fair’s own activities – and therefore also EFRIS – were widely
publicised.

New ventures came to the market place, notably the USA based company
rightscenter.com, and later, by spring 2000, the USA based company
Subrights.com. The trade press reported extensively about the various
approaches and scenarios.

As a result, both dissemination and the building of bridges had to be reframed in
order to meet requirements of this – positive – new situation.
In terms of dissemination, EFRIS was presented on various platforms and occasions:

At the Frankfurt Book Fair, a large information and demo booth (ca. 45 square
meters) was set up between halls 8.0 and 9.0 and staffed with the EFRIS team.

Various promotional material, both on paper and in digital form has been
produced and disseminated.

In Spring 2000, the co-operation with the London Book Fair mentioned above was
the main focus to promote the new continuous operation mode of EFRIS and the
Frankfurt Rights Catalogue.

An emailing to all 5,000 available customer addresses was carried out to promote
the system and its services.

The London Book Fair itself integrated the information in several of its
communications to customers and the trade press.

A panel discussion was organised in London on the role of book fairs for the
online rights trade with attendance of Frankfurt and EFRIS

Several articles were published in the professional press (e.g. The Bookseller, The
Right Report) on the issue.

New promotional material was produced and distributed both on paper and in
electronic format to prepare for the further development of the Frankfurt online
services based on the EFRIS system from April 2000 (covering the new
enhancements of the Rights Catalogue, eStands and the eventual re-launch of the
web site).
In Autumn 1999 – Additionally, the already existing exchanges of information with
initiatives such as INDECS or the DOI Foundation was continued. For September 14
2000, a workshop sponsored in Frankfurt with both DOI and INDECS explored further
potential co-operation, not least to encourage further activities to help implement
standardisation of identifying codes for electronic documents.
However, ‘building bridges’ could not be limited to such organisations as a number of
new players re-defined the arena of the Internet rights trading and information provision.
Therefore, talks between Frankfurt and a large number of:

Experts

Potential partners and

Potential competitors
were carried out between September 1999 and summer 2000.
As the delays and omissions in the pilot first implemented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in
fall 1999 could be amended in early 2000, not open contractual issues are to be
addressed.
7.
Plans for Commercial Exploitation
The business planning was conducted in two clearly distinct steps:

After the evaluation of the 1999 pilot, it was decided to prepare for a tight
integration of the EFRIS system into the general Frankfurt Book Fair web site in
2000 so that revenue could be generated from several sources, notably from
advertising and from selling title registration and the newly created eStands. The
ultimate goal is to come up with a business model that is based on multiple
revenue streams.

Between March and June 2000, an intensive debate on strategy and business
models took place within the Frankfurt Book Fair that resulted in various internal
strategy papers as well as in a comprehensive “Business Plan” that was submitted
to the European Commission as an EFRIS deliverable.
As the business planning refers to internal considerations of the Frankfurt Book Fair
which are strictly confidential, the respective information (summarized in the – restricted
– EFRIS Business Plan) is not made public in this report.
As a result of all these activities:

The EFRIS based online platform of the Frankfurt Book Fair is currently well
established as a point of reference and as an exchange of ideas and concepts in
the wider perspective of creating the necessary environment for a future
interactive and Internet based rights exchange for the publishing industries,
regardless if this involves books or any electronic format;

The Frankfurt Book Fair is clearly committed to continue its activities in hosting
and promoting respective initiatives as an independent, non-partisan arena;

The Frankfurt Book Fair itself is ready for the next step, that is the establishment
of an integrated online marketplace for the publishing industries, and the EFRIS
project has created sound foundations in terms of expertise and planning which
are the prerequisites for such an ambitious innovative development.
Rüdiger Wischenbart
EFRIS Project Co-ordinator
Frankfurt Book Fair
Frankfurt August, 2000