RENTON, Wash. (July 2, 2001) - iCopyright has announced the release of iCopyright Publisher Central, a suite of Web-based tools and services that enables publishers to implement the Instant Clearance Service themselves, as well as manage their online licensing and reprints business. "This is a landmark day for iCopyright. With the release of iCopyright Publisher Central, we give publishers of all sizes the tools they need to make the most of their content licensing business with online convenience," said Mike O'Donnell, iCopyright CEO. "They can do it all from their Web browser-sign up for the Instant Clearance Service, implement it on their Web site, set prices and policies, track activity, and then make business decisions based upon that activity to optimize revenues." "Through iCopyright Publisher Central, we have immediate access to the purchasing trends of our customers," said Tim Bradbury, EVP of bizjournals.com, which has been using the Instant Clearance Service for over a year. "We can use this information to gain a clearer understanding of the needs of our existing customers, and evaluate how we can best fulfill the needs of future customers." "Several iCopyright-enabled publishers are generating a significant amount of new revenue with the Instant Clearance Service," said O'Donnell. "iCopyright Publisher Central will help them increase those revenues even more. It's found money for online publishers who have seen their advertising and subscription revenues go flat. Best of all, the buyers appreciate how fast and easy it is to get the content they need for their Web sites, media kits, and reports." The Instant Clearance Service is the world's first automated content licensing system for online publishers. Using iCopyright Publisher Central extranet site, publishers can activate the Instant Clearance Service and place the icon on their Web sites. Readers who click on the iCopyright icon can then license, purchase, and receive that content instantly, in the format they desire. Licensed content includes the publishers' masthead, as well as a tracking link that readers can click to purchase more licenses. Publishers can activate the Instant Clearance Service for a special introductory rate of $99, until September 1, 2001. The discounted monthly subscription to Publisher Central is $29.95. After September 1, the activation fee will be $495 and the monthly subscription fee will be $49.95. iCopyright also earns 50 percent of the revenues it generates for publishers with the Instant Clearance Service. "It's the best deal in town," said O'Donnell. "Other digital-rights management solutions cost thousands of dollars up front and require weeks to set up. Through iCopyright Publisher Central, publishers can start issuing licenses for their content in a matter of hours, rather than weeks. Just to break even, they only need to sell $38 worth of licenses in one month." Activating the Instant Clearance Service iCopyright Publisher Central takes online publishers through the process of integrating the Instant Clearance Service on their sites, step by step. Implementation requires no programming expertise and only basic knowledge of HTML. Publishers can also provide an XML feed to integrate the service with their site. Publishers can set prices, choose the kinds of licenses they'd like to offer, pick from a number of pre-designed style sheets for certain clearances, and upload their logos online through the extranet site. Once the Instant Clearance Service has gone live on their sites, they can return to iCopyright Publisher Central to add new publications or articles, upload new logos, grant access to the service to others on their publishing team, and changes prices and products according to market demand. Reporting Tools iCopyright Publisher Central provides publishers with Usage Summary Reports that show which articles are selling through the Instant Clearance Service and click-through rates on the iCopyright icon. Publishers can also view Clearance Reports that show who is clearing their content. All reports can be downloaded in tab-delimited format. For more information about iCopyright Publisher Central and the Instant Clearance Service, go to www.icopyright.com. The Instant Clearance Service is the only digital rights management solution that licenses and fulfills digital content instantly. By implementing the Instant Clearance Service on their site, publishers monetize their content, turning every article into a stand-alone product available for purchase. Every PDF, Web reprint, or e-mail fulfilled by the Instant Clearance Service carries the publisher's brand. Each piece of licensed content also includes a link back to the original article, driving traffic back to the publisher's site. By making it simple to license content, publishers not only make it easy for readers to do the right thing; it also helps them tap into the power of informal business networks, open up new distribution channels, and gain the maximum benefit from pass-along readership. Earlier this year, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) recognized iCopyright as the best digital rights management solution. The SIIA Codie is considered one of the software industry's top honors.