James Delahunty
28 Feb 2007 9:01
Digimarc Corporation has announced its first successful patent application this month, which was first filed in November 1998. According to filings at the US Patent and Trademark Office, Digimarc's "Method for monitoring internet dissemination of image, video and/or audio files" is a monitoring service that scans digital content on the Internet, searching for watermarks to identify material subject to copyright.
When material is identified, it can then contact the registered owner of the content and inform them of the discovery. Digimarc is now promoting the system to fix a major problem with social networking sites like YouTube and MySpace; a very large portion of content uploaded does not belong to the uploader.
Bruce Davis, Digimarc chairman and CEO, said the system could help build "viable business models" in an arena rife with disruptive changes in entertainment distribution and consumption. "Much of the repurposed content on YouTube, for example, contains copyrighted entertainment," Davis said in a statement.
He continued: "If social networking sites implemented software to check each stream, they could identify copyrighted subject matter, create a report, negotiate compensation for the value chain and sell targeted advertising for related goods and services. There is no need to impede consumers. In fact, the specific identification of the content could guide provision of related goods, services and community designed to maximize the consumer’s enjoyment of the entertainment experience."
In order for the system to work however, it would also need the support of copyright holders and would have to be implemented into digital broadcasts. The system is not designed to scour P2P networks, BitTorrent or Usenet.
Source:
Ars Technica