The main goal of this research project is to define a generic architecture for the protection and management of digital rights in a multimedia content management scenario following open standards as much as possible. In order to achieve this goal, several standards and initiatives will be analysed and taken into account. First, a MPEG-21-based preliminary architecture for the protection and management of digital rights for multimedia content is tackled. Later on, a more general architecture is defined. Several implementations are described such as those in several Spanish and European projects such as AXMEDIS, VISNET II, Linked-Work and GILDDA. The focus in made on use cases, security features and a testing methodology. Linked-Work details a specific implementation, emphasising on the key concepts that make it different from other kind of DRM systems.