DOI Handbook

DOI Handbook

7.1 Origins and Status
The DOI system was developed in 1996 as an evolutionary byproduct of the Association of American Publishers (AAP.) During its formation, the AAP, the International Publishers Association (IPA) and the International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publishers (IASTMP) joined forced to launch a foundation to oversee the DOI. This foundation, formed in 1998, was called the International DOI Foundation (IDF) and serves to both develop and manage the DOI system. It does this by supporting the members of the intellectual property community in the digital realm through the development and marketing of the DOI system as a centralized content management tool.

The International DOI Foundation is a not-for-profit, member-based corporation that issues no stocks and was organized under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware on October 10, 1997. The legal registration number for the corporation is 2807134 8100. Additionally, the IDF is the sole owner of IDF (UK) Ltd, which is based in the UK. The primary regulatory agency of the corporation is a board of directors comprised of elected members of the Foundation.

7.2 Business and Organizational Principles

7.2.1 Cost Recovery and Protection

Technology does not drive persistence, organizations do. Thus, in the process of developing a persistent identifier system, a model for a persistent organization must be designed. The primary focus of a persistent organization is on maintaining a consistent source of funding.

The DOI system provides value but also incurs costs for resources in the areas of infrastructure, data management and governance. In order to recoup those costs, the system charges a fee for the initial issuance of an identifier. Continued use of the identifier has no associated fee.

Protection of the system assets and quality control are also vital. Perceived threats include illicit exploitation such as someone identifying something as DOI when it is not. To prevent this, the DOI system enforces copyright and trademark laws. As the DOI is not patented, the system does not enforce any patent laws. Similar considerations apply to the underlying technologies utilized by the DOI system. The Handle System is utilized via a license agreement from the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI). Additionally, indecs intellectual property (IP) is assigned to IDF and EDItEUR, both solely and jointly.