Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Systems are built into the content submission and vetting process so that owners of other content can easily check submissions for plagiarism. Since the submission process is done using Usenet technology, all a publisher needs to do is subscribe to the newsgroups and use software on their end to check each submission against a database of the content they have published. When they spot a potential instance of plagiarism all a publisher has to do is reply to the message in the newsgroup with a special code in the subject line indicating that they protest the inclusion of the content. The contributor may then edit their submission or withdraw it entirely.

Naturally, every word that has ever been published in a textbook can not be considered protected intellectual property. After all, there are only so many ways one can define a cell in biology or an integral in mathematics. Reason will need to be exercised when deciding what is infringing material and what is in the public domain. When the absolute best explanation available is tied up as the intellectual property of someone, efforts will be made to entice them to license that material to DEMML� under DRM or even a Creative Commons license.

Creative Commons is a licensing system that allows authors more flexibility in how they license their content. Rather than requiring people to obtain permission to use content, an author can give this permission preemptively. The author can specify that use is allowed except for commercial purposes. Each and every item of DEMML� content is marked to indicate how that content is licensed. A preferred feature of content authoring software is to allow the user to easily select a Creative Commons license. Efforts will be made to add an option to the Creative Commons license that allows use of content only within the DEMML� system. This will encourage publishers to submit some content in order to draw attention to their products without fear that it will be misappropriated elsewhere. Advertising and marketing within content are strictly forbidden but the publisher�s name will be attached to every item of content submitted.

Another major item of intellectual property that needs to be protected is the design of the standard itself. Without proper protection, others will attempt to patent the technology using vague and over-broad language in order to profit from or control the standard. To prevent this, license agreements will be drawn up giving anyone free license to use the standard to create software that meets the standard and to create content based on the standard. Licensees will be specifically prohibited from extending the standard in a proprietary manner.

Next: Objective Nine: Promote the Creation of Third-Party Software...