ACAP to adopt PLUS image licensing standards

ACAP (Automated Content Access Protocol) is to adopt semantics of the Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS). The PLUS standards simplify and facilitate the communication and management of image rights, providing for increased automation and machine readable image licences.

Jeff Sedlik, president and CEO of the PLUS Coalition said: ‘ACAP has made astounding progress in a very brief period. By adopting the PLUS standards, ACAP will now expand beyond textual content to the communication of image rights. The close collaboration between ACAP and PLUS will benefit everyone involved in creating, distributing, using and preserving images.’

ACAP will use the PLUS License Data Format and PLUS Media Matrix standards to supplement the existing ACAP vocabulary for communicating license-related information in a machine-readable form to web crawlers and other automated devices that use web content. ACAP has previously concentrated on text-based web resources, and its adoption of PLUS semantics is part of a planned extension of ACAP to meet publisher requirements to communicate more precise terms for use of photographic and other media resources by web crawlers.