CCC, a leader in advancing copyright, accelerating knowledge, and powering innovation, has been named a winner in the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards, highlighting the company’s “exceptional advancements in AI and the value it brings to stakeholders and the broader community” through its Annual Copyright License (ACL), an enterprise-wide rights licensing solution offering companies an efficient way to license rights, including rights for the internal use of legally-procured copyrighted materials within AI systems, and to use copyrighted materials with AI systems by providing users with a harmonized set of internal use AI rights from a broad range of rightsholders.
The Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards celebrate the most innovative companies, technologies, and professionals in AI innovation. Winners were selected by a panel of industry experts who evaluated nominees based on their creativity, impact, and measurable success in AI-driven solutions.
“The AI industry is evolving rapidly, and it is through the efforts of companies like CCC that we see real-world applications driving change,” said Russ Fordyce, CEO of the Business Intelligence Group. “Their work exemplifies the kind of innovation and leadership shaping the future of artificial intelligence.”
“CCC is honored to receive this accolade in recognition of our voluntary opt-in collective licensing solutions that were specifically designed to meet the needs of businesses and rightsholders alike and to further expand the functioning AI rights licensing marketplace that exists today,” said Tracey Armstrong, President and CEO, CCC. “Responsible AI is good business practice and is the key to unlocking AI’s untapped potential. The copyright ecosystem produces the high-quality content essential for training effective AI systems. Success is a future where AI innovation and copyright are complementary strengths.”
“Copyrighted materials are the fuel for AI systems,” added Armstrong. “Trustworthy AI outputs depend on original high-quality inputs, and those inputs are the result of human creativity and expertise that deserves recognition and fair compensation for rightsholders.”
CCC advocates for copyright worldwide by engaging governments, stakeholders, and individuals with educational programming and thought leadership resources. The organization also maintains an online hub, AI, Copyright & Licensing, which features informational resources for creators, publishers, rightsholders, technologists, media representatives, policymakers, intellectual property attorneys, and others.
Since 1978, CCC has supported content users by providing efficient, harmonized licensing solutions for their internal content uses. CCC’s non-exclusive voluntary collective licensing solutions include ACL for Business, Multinational Copyright License (MCL) for Business, ACL for Higher Education, ACL for Curriculum & Instruction, and ACL for Student Assessments. In addition to licensing solutions, CCC provides one-stop access for users to request, receive, and pay for full-text content and permissions to re-use content.
