For printers, libraries, readers

How to read a verso

A copyright page cannot carry a full legal record. PRA uses two layers: a short printed block on the page, and a full record at the resolver.

Printed layer

Put this on the copyright page. It carries only: a short status, covered components, territory, source type, and the PRA-ID as stable text, never a QR code alone.

Short form

This edition uses the proposed Printing Right Attribution protocol. PRA-ID: [text string]. It does not, by itself, create permission to reproduce or distribute the work.

Long form

This edition is produced under the proposed Printing Right Attribution protocol. PRA record: PRA-ID ______________ (text string; a QR code, if present, is a convenience only) Basis: [PRA-A / PRA-B / PD-V (territories)] · [profile if any] Components in: [e.g. main text, 1891] Excluded (COMP-X): [e.g. 1982 preface; cover design; plates] This mark communicates a recorded claim. It is not a government certification, court determination, warranty of non-infringement, or substitute for legal advice, and it does not by itself create permission to reproduce or distribute the work. Status: [register URL] The mark may be presented as currently operative only while the resolver shows the record as Active.

No-permission form

Use this when a record is informative only and no PRA permission is claimed. This matters because otherwise readers may assume every PRA mark is a permission badge.

Rights information recorded for provenance only. No PRA permission is claimed for commercial reproduction. See PRA-ID [identifier] for status, evidence, and limitations.

A PRA-ID identifies a record; it does not create a right. Why stable text, not just a QR code: QR codes can fail to scan, URLs can change, physical books are sometimes printed or scanned poorly, libraries need catalogue-friendly text, not every reader carries a smartphone, and future systems may not preserve current QR rendering. A QR code may sit alongside the text ID as a convenience, never in place of it.

Resolver layer

The full record lives at the resolver, not on the page. It should work without JavaScript where reasonably possible, provide accessible text, and show current status directly. A complete resolver record carries:

PRA-ID and record title
Work and edition information
Publisher or reprint entity
Date created and date last reviewed (shown separately)
Current record state and the full event history (see record states and event history)
Covered components and excluded components
Territories and intended use
Legal basis, evidence documents or links, and search methodology where relevant
Evidence source, review status, authority status, and challenge status, shown as separate fields (see the canonical evidence fields)
Record creator and responsible node
Challenge route and correction history
Superseded or replacement record, if applicable

Persistent identifiers should be stable, resolvable, and available in both human-readable and machine-readable form, following the same architecture RightsStatements.org uses for its own URIs, for example: https://printingrightattribution.org/record/PRA-0000-0000-0000.

Example stacks

Printed line	Meaning
PRA-B · PRA-N · COMP-X	National licence, non-commercial reprint, listed layers out.
PRA-A · PRA-C · PRA-R (LK)	Owner deed, commercial, Sri Lanka only.
PD-V (LK, IN) · COMP-X	No PRA permission. Text believed PD in those two states. Preface and cover out.
PRA	Invalid.

ISBN

A commercial reprint needs its own ISBN. Do not reuse the dead edition's number. PRA-ID does not replace ISBN, ISNI, or a CMO identifier. It identifies a permission or status record.

Resolver stub →

A copied logo on an old offset is not a record. If the ID does not resolve, treat the badge as void.