Houghton Mifflin Teams With Reciprocal and ContentGuard To Give College Students Course Materials On the Internet

Business Wire, June 1, 2000

Business/High-Tech Editors

NEW YORK and BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 2000

Digital Publishing Leaders Target Higher Education Market

Houghton Mifflin Company (NYSE:HTN), a leading publisher of educational textbooks and materials, Reciprocal(TM), Inc., the global leader in digital rights management (DRM) transaction services, and Reciprocal's e-Publishing partner, ContentGuard, Inc., today announced that Houghton Mifflin has selected Reciprocal and ContentGuard to provide digital rights management services. Houghton Mifflin has chosen the electronic Publishing Clearing Service (ePCS), a comprehensive suite of secure e-commerce services that utilize Reciprocal's Digital Clearing Service and ContentGuard's rights management technology.

The announcement concludes a year-long series of successful pilot programs between Houghton Mifflin and Reciprocal. Under terms of the agreement, Houghton Mifflin can offer content and course materials in digital modules to college students nationwide, using ePCS.

"Reciprocal is committed to helping the publishing industry take advantage of the digital economy," said John Schwarz, president and CEO of Reciprocal. "Houghton Mifflin is one of the most progressive publishers in the industry and their choice attests to Reciprocal's unique ability to provide all of the components that publishers need to launch and expand e-commerce solutions quickly and cost effectively."

Today's announcement follows on Reciprocal and ContentGuard, Inc.'s recent agreement with the Aberdeen Group to put their high-value content and research reports online in a protected DRM-enabled format (see "Aberdeen Group Relies on Reciprocal...," April 24, 2000.)

DRM protects and controls access to digital content, so that it can be distributed to end users without risking a loss of control of copyright for the content owner. Houghton Mifflin will use ePCS to protect and control access to its digital content. ePCS combines ContentGuard Inc.'s rights management technology and content commerce applications with Reciprocal's robust and scalable Digital Clearing Service for rights enforcement and clearing, informational and financial tracking, reporting and 24/7 customer support.

"Houghton Mifflin and Reciprocal worked together in `pilot' tests of DRM-protected digital textbooks at both Stanford University and SUNY Buffalo. These real-world tests clearly demonstrated that college students--and their professors--want a choice of whether to purchase a digital text or a physical text," said June Smith, executive vice president of Houghton Mifflin's College Division. "Thanks to Reciprocal's digital rights management services, Houghton Mifflin will be able to offer that choice."

"ePCS gives students the flexibility of electronic content access in a user-friendly environment, while ensuring that the copyrights of content owners like Houghton Mifflin are safeguarded," said Ranjit Singh, president and COO of ContentGuard, Inc. "Houghton Mifflin's adoption of ePCS is a significant step in accelerating the global trend towards Internet delivery of high-value content."

"Houghton Mifflin was one of the first educational publishers to recognize that the future of publishing lies in online digital delivery," said Matt Moynahan, Reciprocal Publishing's general manager and senior vice president. "They understand that the digital content economy has opened exciting new business opportunities, and we are proud to have been chosen as Houghton Mifflin's DRM services partner for this important first initiative."

About Houghton Mifflin Company

Houghton Mifflin Company (NYSE: HTN) is a leading publisher of textbooks, instructional technology, assessments, and other educational materials for elementary and secondary schools and colleges. The Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and fiction and non-fiction for adults and young readers. The Company's Internet site can be found at http://www.hmco.com.

About ContentGuard, Inc.

ContentGuard, Inc., launched in April 2000, provides digital rights management technology, products and services for eContent. These solutions enable content owners to realize the potential of the Internet as a distribution medium by preventing misuse and unauthorized access and distribution. With investors including Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), the company is led by co-chairman and CEO, Michael Miron, and President and COO, Ranjit Singh, and has operations in McLean, Virginia, Palo Alto, California and El Segundo, California. ContentGuard, Inc.'s key partners currently include Microsoft Corporation, Xerox Corporation, Adobe Systems Inc., Reciprocal and Thomson Learning.

About Reciprocal

Reciprocal, the global leader in digital rights management transaction services, provides comprehensive, easy-to-implement e-commerce clearing services and back-office solutions for the music, publishing, software, film, entertainment, and other digital content-rich industries. Reciprocal offers content owners a true outsourced DRM solution that allows them to realize new revenue streams while efficiently protecting their online digital assets.