Products Rights Explained

After getting feedback on my last post about Giveaway Rights,I’ve realized there is still a need to explain all the different product rights options.

I guess it makes sense because if you been around in the Internet Marketing world at all,products rights is a confusing place with many different type of rights,many rights sounding the same as other rights but being different and even those that are the same are different.

In future blog posts I’ll go into depth about many of them but before that I’m going to give an overview.

We’ll look at the most common rights you’ll find and give you a good basic understanding of each so you know what to look for.

Remember though that each product is different and may give different rights,even if it uses a common term,so be sure to read the rights license to know exactly what you’re getting.

Let’s get to it…

Personal Use Rights (PU)

The most basic rights of all,Personal Use Rights means that you can use and benefit from the product personally but you can do anything else with it,including but not limited to giving it away,selling it,putting it on you Web site or changing it.

Giveaway Rights (GR)

For more details on Giveaway Rights see my blog post Giveaway Rights Products:What? Why? How? but,in short,Giveaway Rights allows you to give away the product.

You can’t sell it or accept payment of any amount for the product but you can give it away as a gift.

This is a good way to do list building and relationship building and the minimum rights you need to do that.

Reprint Rights/Republish Rights (RpR)

Reprint Rights,sometimes called Republish Rights,is a restricted form of Giveaway Rights.

It allows you to take the products,most commonly an article or report,and “reprint”it,that is,put it on your Web site,or on your blog or in your newsletter;you must not change anything including the product or the product author information.

You may not sell this information.

This is particularly useful to add content to your Web properties without cost and with little effort. If the source provides an RSS feed you can even have it done automatically.

Rebranding Rights (RbR)

With Rebranding Rights you are allowed to “brand”,change some very specific parts of the product.

The most common change allowed is to change any links in the product to be your affiliate links but other include putting your name and Web site on the product and adding your advertisement.

To stop people from making any other changes and to make it easier to brand the products a “rebrander”is usually included. Some examples are Turbo Brander and Viral PDF.

While no other rights are given with Rebranding Rights there is no other reason to allow branding without giving some other rights so expect to be able to give away the product;sometimes you are allowed to sell the product.

This is a more powerful way to do viral marketing,list building and relationship building.

Resell Rights/Resale Rights (RR/BRR)

Resell Rights,also frequently called Resale Rights or Basic Resell/Resale Rights,means you get the rights to sell the product to your customers and,of course,keep 100% of the money they pay you.

You may get other rights,like allowing you to use the product as a bonus or the ability to add to a membership site but that should be detailed in the rights license you receive and should not be assumed.

It does not mean that your customers get any rights other than Personal Use Rights nor does it mean you can change the product in any way.

This is the most basic rights you need if you plan to sell the product.

Master Resell Rights/ Master Resale Rights (MRR)

Master Resell Rights,also frequently called Master Resale Rights,means Resell Rights and that you can pass on Resell Rights (and usually Master Resell Rights) to your customers.

As with Resell Rights,you may get other rights,like allowing you to use the product as a bonus or the ability to add to a membership site but check the rights license to be sure.

This is the most basic rights you need if you sell to customers who are looking for product to sell.

Private Label Rights (PLR)

Private Label Rights means you get the right to change the product.

It does not give you the right to sell the product although almost all the time some other type of rights –Giveaway,Resell or Master Resell –are also included;again check the actual rights license you receive with the product.

Usually you can put your name as author on the product and frequently you MUST put your name as author on the product.

Sometimes you are allowed to claim copyright and sometimes you are not,of course,if you change it enough that copyright laws would consider it a new product then you can claim copyright on that.

Frequently,you don’t get the rights to pass on Private Label Rights to your customers so be sure to check that.

This is the most basic rights you need if you wish to modify the product itself.

Other Rights

Nontransferable Rights (NT)

As the name implies,this means the some,or all,of the rights you receive aren’t transferable to your customers.

This is most frequently used with Private Label Rights which would mean you can change the product but your customers cannot.

Physical Product Rights (PPR)

Physical Product Rights allows you to take a digital product and turn it into a physical product like a CD or DVD.

Like Rebranding Rights,you don’t actually get any other rights –like to give away or sell –but there is no purpose to creating a physical if you can’t do something with it,so expect to also receive other rights along with the Translation Rights.

This is good rights to have if you want to have a premium product,sell on eBay or want to take your online customers offline.

Licensing Rights/Royalty Rights (LcR)

Licensing Rights,sometimes called Royalty Rights,is sort of a combination of Resell Rights and selling as an affiliate.

It allows you to sell the product and then pay a license (royalty) fee for each product sold.

This is very similar to getting a commission as an affiliate except that you have the advantages and disadvantages of controlling the sales process.

While not as good as Resell Rights,Licensing Rights is generally better than being an affiliate as you make more money and you get the customer not the product vendor.

Translation Rights (TrR)

Translation Rights allows you to translate the product into one or more languages different that the original language;your license will tell you how many languages or sometimes which languages you have the rights to.

Like Rebranding Rights,you don’t actually get any other rights –like to give away or sell –but there is no purpose to the translation if you can’t do something with it,so expect to also receive other rights along with the Translation Rights.

This is particularly good in being able to sell to specific markets,for example Spanish or Chinese speaking markets.

Unrestricted Rights (U)

Getting Unrestricted Rights means you can pretty much do whatever you want with the product within the boundaries of the type of rights you get.

For example,if you get Unrestricted Resell Rights (URR),you can sell it any way you want:the “normal”way but also you can put it on eBay and other auction sites,you can add it to Dime Sales or Fire Sales,can use it as a bonus,you can bundle it with other products,etc.

This is commonly used with Private Label Rights to give essentially unlimited rights to the product.

Beware though that sometimes products “unrestricted”rights come with some actual restrictions. An example would be an Unrestricted PLR (UPLR) product that restricts you from claiming copyright.

Conclusion

Product rights can be confusing and surprisingly complex.

Understanding the basics of what each type of rights provides you will help you in making sure the products you do get match the needs you have for them.

Remember though that these rights categories just provide a general basis for the actual rights you will get. The ultimate rights are explicitly defined with the rights license you get when you acquire the product;be sure to read and understand that license.

I am providing a handy chart for you to keep track of all the various rights,click here to download it.

Future blog posts will go into detail about the primary rights:what they are,why you would want them and how to use them.

Please leave a comment below and let me if you have any questions about rights or let me know if I missed anything important. Thanks.

Talk soon,

David

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
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