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ARTICLE · 08 OCTOBER 2025

How Really Simple Licensing May Change Online Content Licensing

Crowell & Moring LLP
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The Really Simple Licensing Collective ("RSL Collective"), a nonprofit dedicated to creating collective licensing solutions for content creators and publishers, has announced Really Simple Licensing ("RSL"), a new standard designed to stop crawlers from scraping websites for content without permission or compensation. If adopted, RSL could have major implications for both online platforms and the AI technologies that source content for training data from them.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Warrington Parker
Warrington Parker
Joachim Steinberg
Joachim Steinberg
Anna Saber
Anna Saber
Andrea Capone
Andrea Capone

The Really Simple Licensing Collective ("RSL Collective"), a nonprofit dedicated to creating collective licensing solutions for content creators and publishers, has announced Really Simple Licensing ("RSL"), a new standard designed to stop crawlers from scraping websites for content without permission or compensation. If adopted, RSL could have major implications for both online platforms and the AI technologies that source content for training data from them.

The Current State of Licensing Online Content

One of the most pressing challenges facing both companies that publish content online and those who would like to license that content is that there is no effective and standardized licensing system for online content. As AI technologies emerge, this challenge has taken on a renewed urgency.

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