The Goal of PaySwarm

"The PaySwarm web platform is an open standard that enables web browsers and web devices to acquire licenses, collect micropayments and perform copyright-aware digital media distribution."

• The patent and royalty-free standard would be implemented in all major web browsers.
• PaySwarm would turn 1.7 billion web browsers into a point-of-sale for digital content (images, music, video, data).
• Content owners retain all rights and can set royalties and prices at will.

Why Digital Contracts?

• Legally enforceable for domestic and foreign commerce via the ESIGN Act.
• Digital Signatures are machine-readable and verifiable.
• Requires establishing identity of all participants (via credit card or banking information).

The Participants in a PaySwarm Contract

• Content Owner - Provides a license for content - e.g. personal use.
• PaySwarm Authority - Monitors and approves the Digital Contract. Distributes payment.
• Buyer - The individual making the purchase.
• Seller - The individual providing a download source for the digital content - e.g. MP3.

Parts of a PaySwarm Contract

• Media - Describes the type of media being purchased
  • e.g. The song Whenever, Wherever by Shakira
• License - Establishes a Buyer's rights for the Media
  • e.g. Personal use, allow PaySwarm redistribution
• File - Describes the file being purchased
  • e.g. A stereo MP3 file at 192Kbps
• Payee - Describes each entity to be paid
  • e.g. $0.65 to the Licensor, $0.01 to each Seller
• Contract Section - Data delivery agreement between Buyer and Seller
  • e.g. The last 1 Megabyte of the song in less than 30 seconds

Who Gets Paid in a PaySwarm Contract?

The Buyer is the one that makes the payment, the disbursements are as follows:

• - The Content Owner is paid for the License.
• - Each Seller gets paid for every contract section (every piece of the file) they deliver successfully.
• - The Payswarm Authority collects a fee for processing and storing the contract.
• - More Payees can be added by the Content Owner, Seller, Buyer and PaySwarm Authority.

PaySwarm Contract Legal Obligations

All parties involved in a PaySwarm Contract have legally-enforceable obligations:

• - The Buyer is required to authorize payment on delivery of content.
• - The Content Owner is required to acknowledge all Licenses that they have sold.
• - Each Seller is required to deliver content that they have agreed to under the terms in the Contract.
• - The Payswarm Authority is required to collect and distribute all payments to the Payees listed in the Contract.

Learn More about PaySwarm

• An Introduction to PaySwarm.
  • A high-level introduction to the goals of PaySwarm.
• Learn about Website-based PaySwarm.
  • A simple way to use PaySwarm, built on top of OAuth.
• Learn about Browser-based PaySwarm
  • A future-looking solution for natively buying and re-distributing digital content from within the Web browser.