Magdalena Vinent is the Managing Director of CEDRO, the Spanish Reproduction Rights Center (Centro Español de Derechos Reprográficos), an agency which issues copyright licenses for the legal reuse of books and other publications published in Spain.

An interview with Magdalena Vinent – America Reads Spanish

Q: A few months ago, CEDRO launched conlicencia.com. How would you describe this website?

A: conlicencia.com is an Internet copyright-license management platform. In four simple steps, any user can use the platform to obtain a license to legally reuse any of the more than six million works that we have in our catalogue.

Q: What do users need to do in order to obtain a license?

A: It’s simple. First, users need to choose a work. Second, they need to specify how they are going to reuse the work (photocopy, digital copy, intranet use, etc.) and how many people will have access to it. Then, once they register and make the payment, the corresponding license is issued.

Q: What exactly does conlicencia.com offer?

A: Users can use our platform to obtain universal and legal access to our catalogue of works through a pay-per-use license. This type of license can be obtained quickly and easily, without any hidden surprises and at a fair price.

Q: What types of works make up your catalogue?

A: Practically all of the books, magazines, and newspapers published privately in Spain are included in our catalogue, which ranges anywhere from literary works to scientific and technical publications.

Q: Who are the intended audience for conlicencia.com?

A: Our platform offers solutions for users interested in content in Spanish, especially in the corporate and educational sectors.

Q. Is conlicencia.com limited to a certain geographic area?

A: No. Anyone in any part of the world can use conlicencia.com. The only requirement is having Internet access.

Q: What are the values that conlicencia.com offers its users?

A: First of all, conlicencia.com offers the legal assurance that users have the permission of the authors and publishers for the works that they intend to reuse. Secondly, that our users are acting responsibly with the creators of culture. And finally, quality because, thanks to conlicencia.com, respect for intellectual property rights now forms part of the information and document management decisions of companies and schools.

Q: Why has CEDRO launched conlicencia.com?

A: CEDRO is an agent of the Spanish publishing sector’s value chain. Our primary mission is to authorize the legal reuse of works created by our member authors and publishers. Both users and copyright holders wanted universal, legal, and cross-border access to content over the Internet and conlicencia.com is the tool that we have provided as a solution to their needs.

Q: What is the next step?

A: We intend to grow. We are currently developing English and Portuguese versions of our platform. We are also constantly increasing the number of works published in Spain that we have in our catalogue and we are in talks to include works in Spanish from other countries such as Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina.

conlicencia.com was born of the idea of being the universal access website for content in Spanish.