Computer implemented and/or assisted method and system for facilitating the licensing of media content

A computer implemented or computer assisted interactive process of facilitating at least one of licensing, management and tracking of valuable materials during production, tracking of budget expenditures, management of technical specifications, management of production specifications, compliance with contractual responsibilities, and archiving of records associated therewith with a User and to authorize the User to use the content comprising at least one of images, sound, digital and/or analogue video footage, film footage, text, and data to be licensed within a project in accordance with the project specifications and the technical specifications, comprising at least one of the sequential, non-sequential and sequence independent steps of:

• (a) generating administrative correspondence, documentation, and reports including administrative, technical, and contractual information to communicate and document at least one communication with third parties including at least one of Content Vendors, service providers and project staff;
• (b) tracking the content using a plurality of records, wherein at least one record is associated with a different data content to be licensed and the project includes a plurality of different data content to be licensed, and generating correspondence, documents, and reports to at least one of assist the User and automatically generate in completing and documenting the content to be licensed;
• and
• (c) determining the licensing terms and the technical requirements, and generating a project proposal or use report for the project related to the licensing of the content to assist the User in obtaining and reviewing a financial estimate, contractual obligations, and technical information.

A computer program product storing computer instructions therein for instructing a computer to perform a process of facilitating at least one of licensing, management and tracking of valuable materials during production, tracking of budget expenditures, management of technical specifications, management of production specifications, compliance with contractual responsibilities, and archiving of records associated therewith with a User and to authorize the User to use the content comprising at least one of images, sound, digital and/or analogue video footage, film footage, text, and data to be licensed within a project in accordance with the project specifications and the technical specifications, the program product comprising:

• a recording medium readable by the computer;
• and
• the computer instructions stored on said recording medium instructing the computer to perform the process, the instructions and the process including at least one of the sequential, non-sequential and sequence independent functions of:
• (a) generating administrative correspondence, documentation, and reports including administrative, technical, and contractual information to communicate and document at least one communication with third parties including at least one of Content Vendors, service providers and project staff;
• (b) tracking the content using a plurality of records, wherein at least one record is associated with a different data content to be licensed and the project includes a plurality of different data content to be licensed, and generating correspondence, documents, and reports to at least one of assist the User and automatically generate in completing and documenting the content to be licensed;
• and
• (c) determining the licensing terms and the technical requirements, and generating a project proposal or use report for the project relating to the licensing of the content to assist the User in obtaining and reviewing a financial estimate, contractual obligations, and technical information.

A computer implementing a process or assisting in interactive process of facilitating at least one of licensing, management and tracking of valuable materials during production, tracking of budget expenditures, management of technical specifications, management of production specifications, compliance with contractual responsibilities, and archiving of records associated therewith with a User and to authorize the User to use the content comprising at least one of images, sound, digital and/or analogue video footage, film footage, text, and data to be licensed within a project in accordance with the project specifications and the technical specifications, comprising:

• (a) means for generating administrative correspondence, documentation, and reports including administrative, technical, and contractual information to communicate and document at least one communication with third parties including at least one of Content Vendors, service providers and project staff;
• (b) means for tracking the content using a plurality of records, wherein at least one record is associated with a different data content to be licensed and the project includes a plurality of different data content to be licensed, and generating correspondence, documents, and reports to at least one of assist the User and automatically generate in completing and documenting the content to be licensed;
• and
• (c) means for determining the licensing terms and the technical requirements, and generating a project proposal or use report for the project relating to the licensing of the content to assist the User in obtaining and reviewing a financial estimate, contractual obligations, and technical information.

A computer implemented or computer assisted process of facilitating at least one of the licensing of content, tracking of materials, management of technical requirements and technical specifications, estimating costs for the licensing of content, compliance with contractual responsibilities, tracking of budget expenditures, and/or archiving of records associated therewith between parties including a User and a Content Vendor, comprising at least one of the sequential, non-sequential, and sequence independent steps of:

• (a) recording, accessing, and organizing at least one of administrative, vendor, contractual, technical and content information to create correspondence, documents, and reports required for at least one of the licensing process and the production process;
• (b) tracking the materials including the content as the content is transferred between the parties;
• (c) designing with the content, tracking and recording manipulations of the content during said design process, and optionally associating the manipulated content with the licensing terms and at least one of the technical specifications and the technical requirements;
• and
• (d) reporting final licensing terms and archiving the records so that information can be accessed and manipulated to verify at least one of compliance of licensing terms, analyze financial information from the project, create estimates, track trends within the industry or with particular vendors, and re-license the content.