Inspiration
A photographer lets a local diner use Harbor at Dawn Photo on its printed menus. Later, the diner wants to use the same photo in a paid online commercial. The photographer has to find the original agreement, work out what the diner is asking to change, and decide what to allow and charge. Those details can end up spread across emails, documents, and payment receipts.
We built Rights Desk to help independent creators work out what changes before they sign and keep the agreed terms and payment together.
What it does
Rights Desk puts the existing permission and proposed use side by side. Local AI compares where and how the work will be used, for how long, and in which places. Creators can read the wording behind each finding, clarify missing details one at a time, and save a draft while they check with the buyer.
In the Harbor Diner example, the photographer previews a $75 offer for one 30-second paid online commercial in the United States for 90 days from payment, with photo credit. A buyer can accept the exact version of an offer and pay through PayPal Sandbox. Rights Desk verifies the payment and saves a receipt tied to the accepted terms.
The iPhone app opens My desk and includes IP Notes for importing a voice memo, transcribing it on the phone, and saving the edited text alongside the audio. Creators can also search by ZIP code for nearby law offices and find bar referral and copyright clinic resources.
How we built it
The mobile interface uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with a Node.js server. Gemma 3 runs locally through Ollama. The server checks each quotation against the supplied text and leaves unsupported details open for the creator to review.
PayPal Orders v2 handles Sandbox checkout. Each offer saves a fixed copy of the work, permitted use, conditions, and fee. Before issuing a receipt, the server checks that the completed PayPal capture matches the order, offer reference, currency, and amount. On iPhone, Swift and WebKit open My desk, and Apple SpeechAnalyzer transcribes voice notes on the device. The Android companion uses whisper.cpp for offline transcription.
Challenges we ran into
“30-second commercial” is the length of the video. How long the diner can run it is a separate question. We had to keep those details distinct and show the passages behind the comparison so the creator could see what still needed an answer.
We also had to keep later edits from changing what the buyer accepted. The creator can run a fresh comparison while the offer and receipt continue to point to the version the buyer paid for.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
The recorded Harbor Diner walkthrough shows the local AI comparison, the questions about duration and territory, and the photographer’s $75 buyer preview. It also shows a separate, completed $25 PayPal Sandbox payment for a fictional paid Instagram offer. Rights Desk verified the capture and saved a receipt with the exact scope and fee the buyer accepted.
What we learned
A useful comparison shows why it flagged a change and gives the creator a question they can take back to the buyer. Showing the agreement wording and the buyer preview helps the creator explain what they’re willing to allow and what that use costs.
What's next for Rights Desk
We want to test Rights Desk with independent creators using their own agreements and follow-up messages. We’ll look at whether they can identify what changed, ask the right questions, and share clear terms. Accounts, draft recovery across devices, and production seller payment routing would support real transactions.
Run Rights Desk from the README or follow the illustrated walkthrough.
