What are Private Label Rights?

Also known simply as PLR, a private label right is a form of private labeling that is most commonly associated with marketing products on the Internet. Essentially, the owner of a product that is made available online will sell a portion of the rights to that product to others, for a price. This allows the buyers to label the product as their own, and in turn market it under their own brand or name. The owner typically retains the copyright on the original product.

With private label rights, buyers are able to forego the expense of developing a product on their own. Instead, they can purchase the rights to market a product under their own special name, often finding ways to make use of the product in ways other than the original application. While essentially the same as the original product, the private label product will often carry a new name, be sold with different packaging, and may even be repurposed to meet the needs of a different target audience of consumers.

The concept of private label rights has been around for many years, and is frequently utilized offline as well as in online marketing environments. One common example is the field of telecommunications after the deregulation of that industry in the 1980s. In short order, a number of newer companies providing specific services such as long-distance or audio teleconferencing entered into private label deals with established companies to make use of their programs and their facilities rather than operate their own. The private label allows the buyer to market those products on their own, even if they are receiving services from a different provider.

In the online world, private label rights are often associated with the use of intellectual property, such as articles, e-books and similar electronic products that are repackaged and sold under a number of different names. Here, the original developer of the property sells a portion of his or her rights to any number of buyers, while still retaining the original copyright. Those buyers can then move on to repackage the property as their own, sometimes adapting it slightly for a specific target audience. Depending on the terms of the contract governing the extension of the private label rights, the originator may continue to receive a small amount of compensation from those modified or repackaged products over a period of several years, or until the terms of the contract are completely fulfilled.