Writing the Executive Summary

By Mike O’Donnell, StartUPbiz

The executive summary is probably the most important document you will ever write for your business. Why? Because it is likely to be the only document most people will read about your business.  It is also the document that will do more to move your business to the next stage than any other document.  Almost everything rides on the Executive Summary.  It is the key to attracting investors, customers, suppliers, partners, and employees.  Nothing will dash your dream quicker than a poorly written Executive Summary.  My purpose here is threefold:

1.  Get you into the proper mindset to do a killer job of writing your Executive Summary.

2.  Step you through each paragraph, explaining what to focus on and what to leave out.

3.  Show you a good example of an Executive Summary.

Let’s start with the basics.

What is an Executive Summary?

The ES distills your idea into a clear business opportunity that excites the reader and entices them to help you act on it.

What is the objective of the Executive Summary?

If the reader asks you for the full plan, or if he shares it with others, the ES has done its job. Not every reader can help you directly, but they probably know people who can.  It gets you the meeting with the right people.  It advances the discussion.  It gets people to take the next step.

Should the recipients sign a non-disclosure agreement?

It depends upon the stage of your business and who you are sharing the ES with.  In most cases, the answer is “no.” In fact, most investors won’t sign non-disclosures.  There should be nothing in the ES that you don’t feel comfortable disclosing to the public.  There’s a chance your ES will find its way to your competitors. The rule of thumb is to tell them in the ES what you are doing, but not how you plan to do it.  The full business plan can detail the “how” and may require a non-disclosure agreement.

How long is the Executive Summary?

There is no magic length.  Take whatever space is required to communicate the full scope of the opportunity, save the details for the full plan.  Shorter is better, typically 1-3 pages.

Who should write the Executive Summary?

The Founder/CEO or business visionary should write the ES.  This is not a document to outsource.  The full business plan can be written partly by professionals, but the ES should come from the visionary.  If the visionary is not a good writer, she can outline the essential paragraphs and have a professional writer flesh it out.

What are the elements of an Executive Summary?

There is no set format. It’s best to avoid cookie-cutter formats.  Some writers like to start with an overview of the market. I recommend starting with the core idea and the long-term vision for the business. Paint a picture of what the business could look like if it is successful.

The following pages provide an outline of the paragraphs to include.  You can give these paragraphs whatever headers make sense for your business.

Executive Summary

Describe the business idea or opportunity.

Big idea

The entire summary should be clear and to the point.  Use short, choppy phrases.  The language should be simple and demonstrate clarity of management objectives.  Above all, the summary should show opportunity.

The following a suggested sequence of presentation:

Concept

The opening statement should grab attention.  State something about being the first to introduce this product or the customer demands being generated from your initial market research.  Describe the nature of the business; i.e., type, location, business form, length, and state of operation.  Describe current milestones reached and their financial results; i.e., reaching X amount in sales, evaluation and testing completed, prototype built.  State what industry your product addresses.

Product/Service

Describe your product.  Discuss specialization, significant or unique features.  Discuss where you are, or would like to be located.  State why this location will be advantageous.  If the product is to be sold or distributed through other outlets, discuss how this will be done and their locations.  Describe and precommitted sales or contractual relationships you have with manufacturers and/or distributors for your product.

Market

Describe the market for your product, your current or projected share, and overall potential.  Discuss the competition and what advantages you have over them.  Discuss your plans for introducing your product and your strategy for gaining market acceptance and loyalty.  Mention any letters of intent you have with prospective customers.

Manufacturing/Operations

Discuss the process involved in producing your product and getting it into the marketplace.  Highlight areas of specialization and technology that you may have pioneered in the production of the product.  If you plan to subcontract or license Manufacturing/Operations, describe the arrangement and why it is advantageous.

Management

Discuss the people involved in the venture, their management expertise and experience.  Highlight their distinctive competence.  Discuss support personnel that will be needed as the company grows.  Show that the people involved are qualified and committed.

Funding Request and Times of Investment

State how much money has been invested to date in the venture.  State the additional funds needed and their use.  Discuss what you are offering in return for the money.  Include the payback period and potential return on investment.  State what the earning projections are for the next 3-5 years.  State any tax benefits that will result from investment.

Milestones and Timeframes

State what must be done and expected completion date to move venture along.  Describe the phases and timeframes with which the business will be concerned.  Summarize the unique advantages and strengths that will contribute to the success of the venture.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Too wordy; not to the point

• Too long; trying to be all inclusive

• Does not identify a special or unique opportunity

• Does not clearly demonstrate what the venture is all about

• Does not identify what management hopes to accomplish and how they plan to do about it.

• Terms of the deal are not clear

• Failure to insure all the proper legal steps have been taken (see Fact Sheet)

The Fact Sheet stands alone and appears at the back of the Executive Summary Module as a separate page.  It enables the reader to scan the vital information that makes up the company.  Fill in the following fact sheet and have it typed on a separate page.

FACT SHEET

Name of Company:

Location: (address, city, county, state, zip, phone)

Zoning Classification: (obtain form city ordinance)

Type of Business and Industry: (example – manufacturing, agriculture)

Business Form: (proprietorship, partnership [type], corporation [type])

Product or Service Line: (example – electronics, household)

Patent, Trademark or Service mark: (type, number, date issued)

Length of time in business: (or in development)

Number of Founders/partners/employees:

Current and/or projected share of market: (example – 10% of GF market 1985, 20% 1986)

Invested to Date: (estimate equipment, supplies, time)

Net Worth:

Additional Financing Needed: (estimate total dollar amount)

Minimum Investment: (dollar amount for stock, partnership unit, etc.)

Terms and Payback Period: (example – equity position, limited partnership shares, 3-year buyback, 40% ROI)

Total Valuation: (after placement)

Legal Counsel:

Financial Counsel:

Management Counsel:

Description of any related party transactions, contracts or relationships which the company may be involved in.

iCopyright^SM

Executive Summary

The first automated reprints, copyright permissions and content licensing clearinghouse.

iCopyright, Inc., provides corporate and institutional users with the ability to instantly reprint or reuse content that is published on the Internet or found in printed publications.  Clicking on the iCopyright symbol  at the bottom of a web page launches a toolbar that facilitates the clearance.

iCopyright Clearance Toolbar

Executives, marketers, teachers and other professionals can then get articles, photos, transcripts, music clips and other content immediately, instead of waiting the six-to-eight weeks it usually takes to license and receive the material today.

At the heart of iCopyright’s online service is a fast and efficient e-commerce transaction engine that will sell and deliver any content, in any media.  This patent-pending system automates the three-step process required to legally use copyrighted materials:

¨       obtain proper clearance (or license) from the copyright holder

¨       pay any associated royalties or fees for the material

¨       receive the content in the format desired

In this age of digital information, millions of pages of content are dynamically published and made available to people worldwide each day.  No convenient mechanism exists that honors the intellectual property rights of publishers, and, simultaneously gives users of this content the ability to reprint or reuse the material they want right away - without breaking the law.  iCopyright is the mechanism.  It serves the interests and needs of both publishers and users.

Þ      A search engine is the means through which people find content.

Þ      A browser is the means through which people view content.

Þ      iCopyright is the means through which people obtain the rights to reprint or reuse the content immediately.

Service Offering & Revenue Streams

iCopyright’s online clearance service replaces the current manual process utilized by content owners and publishers by automating the six major types of clearance transactions.  Five of these clearance services make money for the publishers and they all generate revenue for iCopyright.  iCopyright earns a transaction fee of between 15% and 30% on each of the following types of clearances:

1. 1. Professional Reprints:
   Expedited delivery of professional quality output through quick-print providers such as Kinko’s and high quality reproduction providers like Bowne.  30% of projected revenues.

1. 2. Desktop Printer or Copier Reprints:
   A license to reproduce articles, white papers, reports, newsletters and other information on a company’s printer or copier.  10% of projected revenues.

1. 3. Reuse Licensing:
   A license to reproduce or re-purpose other people’s content on a Web site, in a print publication, or in any broadcast medium.  25% of projected revenues.

1. 4. Email Forwarding:
   A license to electronically transfer or distribute copyrighted content.  10% of projected revenues.

1. 5. Linking to or Framing a Publisher’s Web Site:
   A license to aggregate third-party copyrighted content into a portal site or other Web presentation.  5% of projected revenues.

1. 6. Fair Use Permissions:
   “No Charge” use for editorial, academic or personal use as per statute or owner’s business rules.  10% of projected revenues, supported by advertising and sponsorships.

In addition to transaction-processing fees and content-delivery fees, iCopyright can make additional revenue by mining and analyzing its unique, comprehensive, and accurate database of who is using what content, where, and how. iCopyright will sell various usage reports to publishers as well as software and systems vendors.  10% of projected revenues.

Business Model and Chief Benefits

In some respects, iCopyright can be considered a new sales channel for digital content.  Many publishers have refrained from putting their content online.  Only a small number of publishers are making money from their online content – mainly from advertising or subscriptions.  iCopyright provides a compelling new business model that fits the needs of publishers of any size:  a transaction-based business model for the reuse or re-purposing of content.  By registering with iCopyright, big publishers and small publishers alike can sell the content people want, when they want it, and in the form they want it (e.g., a reprint, a link or framing license, a license to reuse the material).  In this respect, iCopyright is a fundamental Internet infrastructure company.  It enables content to be protected, licensed and tracked on a global basis.  The benefits of iCopyright to both parties in the transaction are compelling:

¨       For Publishers – iCopyright can promote and sell reprints and reuse licenses much more efficiently than publishers can on their own.  For big publishers, the revenue iCopyright generates for them is “found” revenue.  For small publishers, the revenue iCopyright generates for them may be their only source of revenue.

¨       For Users of Content – iCopyright enables users to have just ONE account to buy the content they want from ANY site. Users don't have to deal with thousands of different content providers and can significantly minimize liability from copyright infringement (Texaco, for example, recently lost a million-dollar copyright infringement lawsuit). iCopyright also makes it fast and easy for companies to get reprints and other types of content in minutes, hours, or days, not weeks.

Target Market, Size & Timing

Current data suggests that the existing reprints and copyright clearance licensing business is in excess of $2 billion per year.  Analysts estimate that this represents, at best, only 10% of the potential market.  90% of Internet users do not obtain a proper clearance license before “grabbing” content, because there is no efficient mechanism to initiate, process, or track what would amount to millions of requests per day.  iCopyright is the first company to provide content owners with the necessary infrastructure.

Within the first year of operation, iCopyright plans to sign the top 50 publishers who currently generate about 80% of all the traffic on the web.  Major publishers who have already signed up to participate in iCopyright’s pilot program include:

• The Wall Street Journal and Barrons (Dow Jones)
• The Washington Post and Newsweek Interactive
• Business Week and Aviation Week (McGraw-Hill)
• DemoLetter (IDG)
• PricewaterhouseCoopers
• American Banker (Thomson Publishing Companies)
• Software & Information Industry Association
• Computer Press Association

Within this same time frame, iCopyright will sign the Fortune 500 companies, as well as most of the major libraries and universities in the U.S., to use iCopyright to order their reprints and obtain their reuse licenses.  iCopyright will not only be the easiest, fastest and most cost-effective means to legally license content from any publisher, it will be the best way for a company to prove compliance with copyright law when a dispute arises over their employees’ reuse of online content.

From a timing perspective, the introduction of iCopyright is ideal.  The market simply has nowhere to source instant reprints and comprehensive content clearance licensing.  The recent passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as well as recent copyright infringement lawsuits against large companies, have raised individuals' awareness—and more importantly corporations' awareness—that securing permissions and paying appropriate clearance fees and royalties is critical.

Competitive Landscape

A number of technology and encryption solutions for copyright protection are currently available (e.g., TragoeS, Cryptolopes, Digimarc and eDNA) and being marketed exclusively to large publishers.  They require a considerable investment on the part of the publisher, and are not compatible with each other.  Their objective is to prevent people from doing the wrong thing, and, as such, additionally require integration of their technology into browsers, viewers and printer software.  None of this is required with the iCopyright solution.  In addition to being despised by users, most publishers do not wish to support the technology burden and overhead created by encryption solutions.  However, should a publisher desire to utilize one or more of these encryption schemes, they can easily be accommodated by the iCopyright system.

The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) and Copyright Direct are two other competitive companies.  The CCC is a membership and repository-based service that only handles photocopy reuse licensing.  Copyright Direct is focused exclusively on the academic market.  Neither of these companies have much traction in the market, since less than 3% of all content published online today is cleared through these companies.  iCopyright believes it is not only more technically advanced than these companies, it has a business model that works much better for both users and publishers.

The Management Team

The Company’s core management team and its Board of Directors are made up of entrepreneurs and senior executives who possesses significant track records in e-commerce, web technology development, finance, business and marketing. The following individuals are working full-time to launch the iCopyright service.  Full bios can be found at http://www1.medius.net/about/exec.html.

Mike O’Donnell - President & CEO, Founder

Led the team that conceived, designed and launched SPRYNET in seven weeks and grew this ISP to 200,000 subscribers, $50 million in revenue, and into the best rated ISP in the country (PC Magazine Editors Choice).  Chairman of the Board, Internet Division, Software & Information Industry Association.

Andrew Cameron - Chief Technology Officer

Led the European Applications Development Group for Silicon Graphics. Co-inventor of a US patent application titled: Web site delivery mechanism.  Worked at Xerox PARC and was a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin - Madison graduate school.  Holds Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science.

Jerry W. Schwartz - Vice President Business Development

Directly responsible for the worldwide launch of over 30 new products, and the development and management of the associated sales, marketing infrastructure and programs.  Licensed attorney with specialization in international transactions and global business structure development (Dow Corning).

Frank Catalano -  Vice President Marketing

Former Managing Director, PC Data's Internet Monitoring Division; VP Marketing for McGraw-Hill Home Interactive.  Previously, marketing management for Egghead Software and the Apple Programmers and Developers Association. Author of Marketing Online for Dummies.

Glenn Ochsenreiter – Vice President Industry Relations

Former Vice President of Marketing and Membership Services for the Software & Information Industry Association, Washington, D.C.; Executive Director of the Multimedia PC Marketing Council; and General Manager of Waldensoftware, a division of Waldenbooks.

Julie Cason – Director Publisher Relations

A 14-year publishing insider, with product development experience at Houghton Mifflin (Boston) and Macmillan/McGraw-Hill (New York), and executive management experience at Hampton-Brown Books (California). MBA, University of Washington.

Todd Sherman – Director Corporate Sales

A graduate of MIT with 18 years of corporate sales experience.  As Northwest Branch Manager for Silicon Graphics, sold over $45 million in product to corporate accounts such as Boeing, Nintendo, Nike, Nordstrom and Tektronix, consistently exceeding sales goals by as much as 50%.

Board of Directors and Advisors

The company has been fortunate to have the guidance and support of a blue-chip board of directors and advisors.  These individuals have helped to refine the strategy, made important introductions, raised money, and provided an endless supply of inspiration and support. Full bios are posted online at http://www1.medius.net/about/exec.html.

Dan Dixon – Chairman & Co-Founder
Of counsel to the law firm of Foster Pepper & Shefelman and a recognized expert in domestic and international business, finance and political matters. Named the first Director of International Trade and Investment for the state of Alaska. Former member of the Board of Advisors for Cambridge Partners, LLC, a Wall Street banking firm.

George King – Board Member
The Senior Managing Director of Hudson AIPF, LLC, an investment banking and corporate advisory firm located in New York City. Former Vice President of CS First Boston and a finance attorney with the international law firm of Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon. Has completed more than $15 billion of securities offerings.

Dan Sauerhaft – Board Member
Managing Director responsible for the municipal finance team at Societe Generale. Dan holds a BA in government from Oberlin College and an MBA majoring in economics and international business from Columbia University.

Keith Brintzenhofe – Board Member
Founded Design Intelligence after working for 17 years in the printing and publishing industry. Former Vice President and Studio Director for Universal Limited Art Editions, New York.

Joseph Costello – Board Member

Chairman and CEO of Think3; Chairman of Zamba and NextNet; and former CEO of publicly-traded Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

Governor Hugh Carey – Advisory Board Member
One of the most influential and respected governors of New York state. Architect of the financial plan that averted the bankruptcy of New York City. Founder of the Conference of Northeastern Governors (CONEG). On the board of numerous national Fortune 500 corporations and board advisor to Wall Street banking firm, Cambridge Partners, LLC.

John Eger – Advisory Board Member
Lionel Van Deerlin Endowed Professor of Communications and Public Policy at San Diego State University. Former Senior Vice President of CBS Broadcast Group and Director of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy. Served on the Presidential Initiative on Privacy, the Cabinet Committee on Cable Television and the Ad-Hoc Committee on Regulatory Reform. Played a major role in the restructuring of AT&T. Frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post and Washington Journalism Review.

Richard Herburger – Advisory Board Member
Former CFO of the Europe/North America Card Group of Citicorp, responsible for managing $48 billion in credit card receivables. Formerly with Arthur Young & Company (NY) -- senior responsibility for the audits of Mobil Oil, Marubeni USA and Forbes.

James Goulka – Advisory Board Member
President and Chief Executive Officer of EdView, Inc., and former Chief Operating and Chief Financial Officer of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. where he was responsible for the worldwide transformation of the company from a direct seller of printed sets of books into a digital and print publisher. MBA from the Yale School of Management, where he was a member of its first graduating class, and a BA in Art History, also from Yale.

Dillon Jackson – Secretary, Corporate Counsel and Co-Founder
Member - Foster Pepper & Shefelman LLP. Member of the Board, and Dean of the Faculty, of the national American Board of Certification. Recognized national and international speaker since 1974. Advisor to early stage high technology companies, including counsel to the Board of Directors of Generic Software (acquired by AutoCAD).

For more information about iCopyright, Inc., visit the company’s web site at http://www.iCopyright.com.

Testimonials and Press Coverage

"I'm impressed at the flexibility that iCopyright.com gives to publishers and consumers of copyrighted materials. The alliance with Kinko's brings speed and new convenience to the acquisition of reprint material."

- Chris Shipley, Executive Producer, IDG Demo Conferences

"We champion responsible use of copyrighted material, and iCopyright.com makes it easy to get immediate copyright permissions. Coupled with Kinko's expertise in producing fast, professional output, customers will have an end-to-end solution for high-quality reprints."

- Robert P. Meltzer, Chief Technology Officer, Kinko's, Inc.

"Our consultants and clients make use of copyrighted material on the Internet and across corporate intranets. Having a single stop for immediate clearance not only saves time and effort, but provides the security of knowing you're in compliance with copyright law."

- Jon Gacek, Technology Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Seattle

"SIIA endorses solutions like iCopyright.com to help our software and information industry members be more successful in distributing and selling content over the Internet. SIIA has always been a strong advocate of intellectual property rights, and iCopyright.com provides a non-punitive, flexible method for publishers to make online content widely available."

- Ken Wasch, President, Software and Information Industry Association

"Realizing how easy it is for our online content to be copied from our site without our knowledge and either used or misused without our permission, we find the iCopyright solution to be an extremely appealing tool and safeguard which we want the opportunity to utilize. "

-  LMichael Green, Director of Marketing, CARE

“Still copyrighted in cyberspace.”  Eastside Journal, February 8, 1999.

"Demo99 Shows Off Different Kind of Portal.”  PC Week Online, February 9, 1998.

“Company aims to do the copyright thing.”  Puget Sound Business Journal, February 12, 1999.

"iCopyright.com Announces Plans for Copyright Permissions." Editor & Publisher Interactive,

February 12, 1999.

"Reporter's Notebook: On the Horizon, Devices with a Twist."  Internet World , February 15, 1999.

DTP application made it too easy for users to “grab” copyrighted material off the Internet.  To address these concerns, icopyright.com was launched as a free online service to both end users and content owners/publishers.  The site can be found at http://www.icopyright.com. It seeks to educate users about copyright issues and encourages them to seek permission from the owner/publisher before using unlicensed content in their documents.

There currently does not exist a central clearinghouse for copyright permissions and related transactions for material found on the World Wide Web.  Content owners and publishers want to protect their proprietary material.  They want to be paid for re-prints and when their material is re-purposed in other ways.  End users, particularly companies that are sensitive to the legal liabilities inherent in copyright infringement, need a standardized mechanism for obtaining permission and for paying any associated royalties for using content they find on the Internet.

President Clinton recently signed the “No Electronic Theft Act,” which makes willful copyright infringement punishable by $1,000 to $100,000 and jail time, even if the offender does not make a profit on the infringed material.  Even with tougher regulations, there remains a tremendous amount of confusion and misinformation about copyrighted information on the Internet.

icopyright has the opportunity to emerge as a centralized authority and clearinghouse for permissions and royalty clearances.

As demonstrated on the current icopyright site, the business performs three important functions:

1. 1.      It educates users on copyright laws, particularly as they evolve for electronic media.
2. 2.      It explains to users what the acceptable use policy is for every web site content owner/publisher.
3. 3.      It provides an online, automated mechanism to seek permission to use content owned by others.
4. 4.      In the future, it will facilitate transactions if there is a charge for the re-use of content.

The service is envisioned to work as follows:

• The icopyright icon is placed on participating web sites.  This is a free service to content owners and publishers, so millions of companies that maintain web pages can be expected to participate.
• Each icopyright icon is hotlinked via a unique URL to the icopyright server database.
• When a user clicks on the icon, the icopyright server detects which page the user is linking from and instantly displays the information pertinent to that content owner.  This information may include the following:
  • The owner(s) of the copyrighted material.
  • The Terms of Use policy for different types of users.  For example, content may be free to students, but not to commercial enterprises.
  • The costs associated with re-prints or re-use of the content in various mediums.
  • The procedure for obtaining permission and/or buying the rights to use any of the content.
  • An automated form that collects the necessary information from the user and forwards it to the appropriate permissions manager.  The icopyright clearinghouse may also have agreements with certain publishers to act as the permissions manager.
  • The service will verify the user is who he or she says she is and that the content will only be used according to the terms of the licensing arrangement.
  • Secure system for facilitating credit card payments.
  • Upon content and payment clearance, automated follow up to the user to deliver the desired content.

The business will be built on the following features and advantages:

• First to market.  There is not room on any one web page or site for more than one button for copyright clearance.  Content owners and publishers are likely to settle on one central clearinghouse service.
• Sophisticated web technologies, which include relational database and e-commerce systems.
• Relationships with large digital printing facilities to process re-print requests, and with digital mastering facilities (images, sound, video) to process content for re-use in electronic form (web, video, radio).
• Sophisticated payment, reporting, and auditing systems to ensure timely and accurate royalty payments to participating content owners and publishers.
• Possibility of exclusive contracts with large content owners/publishers like Time Warner, Disney, Playboy, ZDNet, CNET and other new media companies for all their Internet copyright clearance.
• Strong branding, supported by trademark protection of the icopyright mark.

According to Network Wizards there are approximately 20 million web server hosts with a valid IP address.  These servers host millions of web pages which are accessible by the general public worldwide, most of which contain copyrighted material.  In addition, millions of domain names have been registered, growing at 100,000 new domain names each month.  Seven new top level domain names are expected to come online this Spring.  The number of people using the Internet is expected to grow from 40 million in 1998 to over 150 million by 2003.

A recent survey of copyright permissions on the Internet by Design Intelligence, uncovered the following information:

• There is NO consistent policy or process to get content permissions from the Web.
• Some sites post a message that they will grant permission to use their content for personal and/or noncommercial use, but provide no clear way on how to go about it.
• The Wall Street Journal Interactive site advertises a number users can call to obtain reprints, but their is no automated, online mechanism for orders or payments.
• Hollywood Online messages users to call direct the VP of Marketing.
• Netscape messages users to e-mail them to request permissions.  Upon doing so, however, we never heard back.
• CNET messages users to e-mail them to request permissions.  We received an e-mail back saying someone would be in touch.  To date, no one has followed up.
• Disney provides no way for users to contact them regarding copyright clearances.
• ZDNET provides no way for users to contact them regarding copyright clearances.
• Mr Showbiz provides no way to contact them regarding copyright clearances.
• CNN provides no way to contact them regarding copyright clearances.
• ABC/NBC provides no way to contact them regarding copyright clearances.
• FOX doesn't have any legal notices about copyright and permissions.
• LA TIMES provides a phone number to call the LA Times Syndicate Permissions Desk for the proper permissions.
• NY TIMES provides an e-mail address and fax options to get reprints permissions, but no online forms mechanism.

Many sites do not include any copyright notices or Terms of Use pages.  Those that do so present the information in small type at the bottom of the Homepage only.

There are a variety of competing technologies for digital copyright protection, such as Cryptolopes and Digital Watermarks, that attempt to imbed or encrypt digital images and/or streaming audio and video files with marks that identify the owner.  These watermarks can track whether the digital file has been legally licensed.  This technology does not include the protection of text information, such as articles, unless the article is printed on a background image that includes a watermark.  In the case of text, however, it is very easy to cut, copy and paste the text off the background, leaving the watermark behind.

There are a variety of clearinghouse agencies for the print and broadcast media, but done of them can be found online at the present time.  The closest competitor, or perhaps collaborator in an effort like icopyright, is the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC).  They have a web site at http://www.copyright.com. This is a non-profit organization for paying members only.  It facilitates copyright permissions for photocopies owned by its members.  It is unclear whether CCC will make a foray into the Internet space.

No projections have been done to estimate the revenue potential from an online clearance service like icopyright.  The revenue potential is thought to be large, since the service is expected to make a small transaction fee on millions of clearance transactions each day.  In addition to revenue from clearance transactions, there exists the potential for substantial revenue from sponsors.  If implemented as envisioned, icopyright would be one of the largest, most popular destinations on the Internet.  These user impressions are worth $10 - $30 per thousand (CPM) to national advertisers seeking to reach and influence online users.

A comprehensive business plan is needed to determine technology, staffing, operations, marketing and capitalization requirements.