MWN Terminology on Recall vs Revocation vs Relinquishment

Various terms are used when a message created in accordance with a DDEX standard contains data that refers to the fact that a musical work, or a right share of it, is not controlled by a rights holder. These terms include, termination, loss of rights, recall, revocation, relinquishment etc. All these terms, however, very clearly denote different characteristics, and this article describes how each of these terms is defined and used by DDEX, mainly in the context of the musical work standards MWN and LoD.

While the definitions below have been written with the MWN standard in mind, they are applicable to other DDEX standards as well.

Termination is a general umbrella term that is used for communicating that a musical work, or a share of a musical work, is not or is no longer controlled by the music publisher or other rights holder. However, it is preferable to use one of the following individual terms defined for specific circumstances, rather than the general term of “termination”.

Recall

The use of the term recall means that a DDEX message already sent is being retracted because it was sent in error.

A recall applies to a full message. It can also apply to a discrete part of a message contained data about a grouping of claims but cannot be applied to specific right share claims within such a message.

A recall invalidates a previously sent notification message that has been made in error i.e. it should not have been sent. Similarly, the MWN standard contains a recall message which invalidates a previously sent request that has been made in error, i.e. it should not have been sent. Therefore, the MWN standard includes two messages to enable the communication of a recall:

• The MusicalWorkClaimNotificationRecallMessage is used for recalling a MusicalWorkClaimNotificationMessage (or a discrete part of a message containing a group of rights claims within a notification message); and

• The MusicalWorkClaimRequestRecallMessage is used for recalling a MusicalWorkClaimRequestMessage (or a discrete part of a message containing a group of requests for rights claims within the request message).

Revocation

The use of the term revocation means that a rights claim was made in error and was never valid. Revocations are expressed for an entire musical work, and the MWN standard enables the communication of revocations by the sending a MusicalWorkClaimNotificationMessage using the Revocation Profile defined in Part 2 of the standard.

A revocation applies to a musical work, either previously communicated or not. Here are two typical use cases:

• “Please remove this rights claim from your system. I never had a claim, but the work exists (as far as I know).”

• “You have never had data about this rights claim from me and it is in your system in error. Please take down the claim on our behalf.”

A revocation also applies to a musical work (without making an explicit reference to any rights claims) that never existed or should not have been revealed to the music industry value chain. Here are two typical use cases:

• “This work does not exist, I registered it in error.”

• “I registered too early, exposed the work data to the public prior to the writers’ wishes.”

A revocation may also apply to non-protected content (“de-registration”), which may be the case for:

• Non-music works (e.g. noise, sleep sounds, ambient forest noises);

• Public domain works;

• Works entirely written by AI; and

• Anomalous works (fraudulent registrations).

Relinquishment

The use of the term relinquishment means that a rights claim made, usually in a previously sent DDEX message, was valid, but that that rights claim is not held any more by the sender of the relinquishment message. So, a relinquishment is about an ownership change and involves the communication of an end date for the rights claim.

The phrase “loss of rights” which is often used in circumstances of this nature is specifically a relinquishment.

The LoD standard has a message that can express a relinquishment.

A relinquishing rights holder may or may not continue to have an interest in another right share for the same musical work. Here are typical use cases:

• “I lost one writer but kept an interest in another.”

• “I lost an interest in a co-publisher.”

• “I lost a territory.”

• “I will lose this interest in the future.”

Summary

Revocations are communicated on musical work level, relinquishments are communicated on right share level, whereas recalls are communicated on message level or part of a message level.

• Recalls communicate that a message or part of a message was sent in error and should be disregarded;

• Revocations communicate that there is wrong data that should be corrected in relation to a musical work; and

• Relinquishments communicate a change of status of a right share claim.