Metadata and rights Available to Purchase

In the print world, sales and rights transactions tend to be considered separately; in the digital world, all transactions are rights transactions. People want to do business differently, linking between content items, and sometimes acquiring very small fragments; e‐commerce is essential to make such transactions efficient. E‐commerce requires unambiguous identification of three things ‐ the user, the object, and the use ‐ in order to select the appropriate terms and conditions for the transaction. Additional elements required in any e‐commerce agreement are the parameters limiting the use, and the consideration to be given in exchange for the right. International groups are working on these issues and readers' involvement is invited.