Managing Rights Management

Watermarking Patents Issued

On Tuesdays the USPTO publishes newly issued patents. Both of today's Spotlight patents entail the use of watermarking. Assigned to Toshiba, the first patent concerns techniques for digital watermark detection. Assigned to Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd., the second patent concerns techniques for embedding and retrieving watermarked information.

Boeing and Digimarc Watermarking Patents Issued

On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Both of today's Spotlight patents entail the use of watermarking. Assigned to Boeing, the first patent concerns a dynamic wavelet feature-based watermark. Assigned to Digimarc, the second patent  concerns digital watermarking with content dependent keys and autocorrelation properties for synchronization

Watermarking Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight applications concern media watermarking. The first discloses techniques for watermarking media data, no assignee given. The second discloses techniques for watermarking motion pictures, apparently assigned to Thompson.

Copyright Protection and Recorded Content Distirbution Patents

{Haven't been blogging much because of the press of client work including travel. Will be on lighter publishing schedule until mid-May when things may calm down a bit.}

On Tuesdays the USPTO publishes newly issued patents. Both of today's Spotlight patents address various aspects of copyright identification and protection. Assigned to Audible Magic, the first patent concerns techniques for detecting and protecting against unauthorized transmission of digital works. Assigned to Immediatek, Inc., the second patent concerns a system for the distribution of recorded content.

Watermarking and Fingerprinting Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Today's Spotlight applications address various aspects of watermarking and fingerprinting. Assigned to Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, the first application discloses a digital watermark padding method, digital watermark padding device, digital watermark detecting method, digital watermark detecting device, and program. The second application discloses techniques for interactive TV data track synchronization in part using fingerprinting, no assignee given.

Joe Winograd (Verance) on Public Assessments Of Watermark Survivability

Back in February I wondered about public tests of watermarking survivability besides the well-known SDMI related tests. Joe Winograd, CTO of watermarking company Verance, emailed the following information:

There have been 5 competitive, independent audio watermark technology evaluations held to date -- a list is provided at the bottom of the "Technology" page on Verance's web site here.

 

Of these, only one (JASRAC/CISAC/BIEM's STEP 2001) has distributed the results publicly.  An archived announcement of the results is here. The three part report is available here, here, and here.

Of the others, IFPI's MUSE results were distributed only to the member companies, 4C's results were provided only to SDMI, and SDMI's reports were distributed to the 200 member companies.  

 

There have been 2 competitive, independent, commercial, video watermark evaluations held that I am aware of (both under the auspices of the DVD CCA) but we did not participate and I don't think any results were publicly released.

Best, - Joe

Watermarking Related Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Both of todays Spotlight applications address various aspects of watermarking digital media. Assigned to the Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute (KR), the first application discloses techniques for
selecting test stimuli for use in evaluating performance of video watermarking methods.  Assigned to Texas Instruments, the second application discloses techniques for watermarking digital media.

NEC Watermarking and Sony Copyright Protection Issued Patents

Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Today's Spotlight patents concern the use of watermarking and ways to protect copyrighted digital information. Assigned to NEC, the first of today's patents concerns techniques for electronic watermark detection. Assigned to Sony, the second Spotlight patent addresses the use of sampling in music recording and editing.

Watermarking and Fingerprinting Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes patent applications.Today's Spotlight applications address various techniques for using watermarking and fingerprinting. Assigned to Digimarc, the first application discloses techniques for using digital watermarks as a gateway and control mechanism. The second application discloses the use of watermarking and fingerprinting for digital data distribution detection, deterrence and disablement, no assignee given.

Digimarc and Hitachi Watermarking Patents

Tuesdays are new patents days at the USPTO and this April Fools is no exception. Both of today's Spotlight issued patents address various aspects of watermarking. Assigned to Digimarc, the first patent addresses a human perceptual model applied to rendering of watermarked signals. Assigned to Hitachi, the second patent addresses digital-watermark-embedding and picture compression.

Digimarc and Sony Watermarking Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Today's Spotlight patent applications concern fingerprinting and watermarking, which continue to be hot topics. Assigned to Digimarc, the first application discloses techniques for using watermarking and fingerprinting as object identfiers with content distribution. Assigned to Sony, the second application discloses techniques for identifying material.

Cinea Copy Protection and Boeing Watermarking Patents

On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Both of today's Spotlight patents address various ways of protecting media content. Assigned to Cinea, the first patent addresses techniques for optical content modulation for visual copyright protection. Assigned to Boeing, the second patent addresses watermarks for secure distribution of digital data.

Digimarc Spins Off ID Business

Watermarking vendor Digimarc has announced that it is selling its ID Systems business to L-1 Identity Solutions Inc. The sale leaves Digimarc free to focus its resources on its digital watermarking and licensing business.

“This relationship comes at a particularly opportune time for Digimarc, as we are experiencing an inflection point in adoption and revenue growth for digital watermarking,” said Davis [Bruce Davis, Digimarc Chairman and CEO]. “Our technology is beginning to permeate the full range of media content, from banknotes and secure credentials to television, movies, music, video games, digital images, advertisements, packaging, and industrial goods. This transaction represents a great step forward for our shareholders, employees, and customers. As we combine our ID Systems assets with global leader L-1 to form a more comprehensive offering responsive to our customers’ evolving needs, we are also redoubling our focus on the realization of our founding vision to making digital watermarking a standard feature in all media content. This is a very exciting moment in our history.”

Seems like a wise move.

Fingerprinting and Watermarking Issued Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Patents often indicate the kinds of technical issues that companies and individuals are thinking about. Today's Spotlight patents address various aspects of fingerprinting and watermarking. Assigned to Landmark Digital Services, the first of today's patents concerns techniques for recognizing unknown media samples using characteristics of known media samples. Assigned to Fraunhofer, the second patent concerns techniques for embedding a watermark in an audio signal.

Philips Fingerprinting and France Telecom Watermarking Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Today's Spotlight patent applications concern fingerprinting and watermarking, which continue to be hot topics. Assigned to Philips, the first of today's Spotlight applications discloses techniques for generating and detecting fingerprints for synchronizing audio and video. Assigned to France Telecom, the second application discloses techniques for the protection and monitoring of content diffusion in a telecommunications network.

Macrovision Sells Digimarc Shares to PE Firm

In an apparent effort to focus in its core businesses, Macrovision has sold an approximately 10% stake in watermarking firm Digimarc to buyer thus far identified only as a Private Equity firm. Previously, Macrovision sold its Trymedia business to RealNetworks for $4M. Also in February, Thoma Cressey Bravo picked up Macrovision's business software unit for $200M.

Spotlight Issued Patents: Two On Watermarking

Every Tuesday the USPTO publishes newly issued patents. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern various aspects of watermarking. Assigned to Wistaria Trading (Scott Moskowitz), the first patent concerns techniques for watermarking a content signal. Assigned to the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (KR), the second patent concerns techniques for embedding and extracting digital watermark on lowest wavelet subband

Digimarc Conference Call - A Few Tidbits

A lot of the call and questions are focused on the ID part of Digimarc's business including watermarking of media content. Here are some tidbits (paraphrased):

Blu-ray win not relevant to Digimarc since Digimarc is involved in both formats other than greater sales in 08. IP connected entertainment devices will be more important. Technology for identifying media objects will become increasingly important. Final Blu-ray license will require Digimarc watermarking. Probably the middle of '09 before royalty revenue from Blu-ray sales become material to Digimarc's financial results.

Nielson relationship going great. We're in the development stage getting solutions ready for market. They will be Nielson's solutions. We're cranking full speed on it.

IBM and Digimarc Watermarking Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight patent applications disclose various aspects of using watermarks. Assigned to IBM, the first application addresses techniques for contents border detection, monitoring, and contents location detection. Assigned to Digimarc, the second application addresses techniques for processing content objects.

Intel Fingerprinting and Hitachi Watermarking Issued Patents

Tuesday's the USPTO issues new patents. Today's Spotlight patents address the use of fingerprinting and watermarking in content protection. Assigned to Intel, the first patent concerns techniques for fingerprinting digital video for rights management in networks. Assigned to Hitachi, the second patent concerns digital content protection using invisible and visible watermarks.

What Is Blu-ray Anyway?

Now that Blu-ray has won the HiDef optical disc format war, what is Blu-ray anyway?  Over on CoolGadgets there is a longish posting that provides a good overview, including a quick review of Blu-ray security technologies AACS, BD+, and ROM mark. ROM mark is an antipriracy feature that is a watermark on the physical disc so that players can check on the authenticity of the disc inserted in the drive and then refuse to play titles that lack the proper mark.

Digimarc and Sony Watermarking Patent Applications

Thursdays the UPSTO publishes new patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight applications address various uses of watermarking. Assigned to Digimarc, the first application discloses techniques for embedding auxiliary information within original data. Assigned to Sony, the second application discloses techniques for data decoding and commerce.

Philips Watermarking and Sony Fingerprinting Issued Patents

Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Today's Spotlight issued patents address watermarking and fingerprinting. Assigned to Philips, the first patent concerns techniques for watermarking. Assigned to Sony, the second patent concerns the use of fingerprinting in recognizing compact discs and issuing corresponding credits.

Vobile Fingerprinting and Cryptography Research Watermarking DVD Patent Applications

Every Thursday the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight applications address optical disc content security. Assigned to Vobile, the first application discloses techniques for fingerprinting and identifying digital versatile disc (DVDs). Assigned to CRI, the second application discloses a content security layer providing long-term renewable security that includes content watermarking.

Published Assessments Of Watermark Survivability?

The survivability of watermarks has been a hot topic for some time. Some independent work focuses on various sophisticated attacks to remove watermarks, for example, the Craver et al., paper relating to the SDMI challenge.

While there are numerous vendor claims of robustness that may well be true, does anyone know of a published study by independent consultants or academics that demonstrates that at least one commercially available watermarking technology survives digital / analog / digital (D/A/D/ transcoding in either the audio or video domains and/or that survives D/D transcoding (from MP3 to AAC or MPEG2 to MPEG4)?

Widevine and Sony Watermarking and Fingerprinting Patents

Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Both of today's Spotlight patents address watermarking and one addresses fingerprinting. Assigned to Widevine, the first addresses techniques for end to end securing of content for video on demand using watermarking and fingerprinting. Assigned to Sony, the second discloses a circuit element that restricts reproduction of an illegally duplicated recording medium and prevents illegal duplication of a recording medium.

Intertrust and NEC Watermarking Patent Applications

On Thursdays the USPTO publishes a new batch of patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Applications address the use of watermarking. Assigned to Intertrust, the first applications discloses techniques for watermarking software and other media. Assigned to NEC (China) the second application discloses techniques for media program identification based on audio watermarking.

Philips and Sanyo Watermarking Issued Patents

On Tuesday's the USPTO issues new patents. Both of todays Spotlight Patents address various aspects of watermarking. Assigned to Philips, the first discloses techniques for using watermarks to communicate a command. Assigned to Sanyo, the second discloses a multilayered watermarking system.

Samsung and Moskowitz Watermarking Patent Applications

Thusdays the USPTO publishes patent applications. Both of today's spotlight applications address watermarking. Assigned to Samsung (KR), the first discloses techniques for video fingerprinting in the frequency domain. Assigned to Wisteria Trading (Scott Moskowitz), the second application discloses optimization methods for the insertion, protection and detection of digital of digital watermarks in digital data.

Wired: DRM Dead, Watermarks Rise From The Ashes

David Kravets writes in Wired that watermarking will replace DRM for music. Maybe. Watermarking is something added to the audio that is below the perceptual threshold, i.e., cannot be detected by the listener. Usually the "something" is a code that identifies the track and/or its owner. In some instances, the watermark may indicate who last created the file. Kravets writes:

Digimarc and Microsoft Watermarking Patents

Both of today's Spotlight issued patents concern watermarking. Assigned to Digimarc, the first discloses wavelet domain watermarks. Assigned to Microsoft, the second patent discloses techniques for the derivation and quantization of robust non-local characteristics for blind watermarking. (The abstract wasn't particularly informative so Claim 1 is presented instead.)

Fingerprinting and Watermarking Patent Applications

Today's patent applications address fingerprinting and watermarking techniques to control digital content. Assigned to MarkMonitor, the first of today's spotlight applications discloses ways of detecting online abuse in images. Assigned to Valtion Teknillinen Tutkimuskeskus (FI), the second application discloses techniques for controlling access to and usage of a digital media object.

DRM 3.0 Has Arrived

Following several conversations with senior executives from several different companies, I've come away from the CES show thinking that the next generation of DRM has arrived. The outlines of DRM 3.0 have been clear for the past several months, but two themes emerged from my various discussions.

The first is that despite the apparent death of DRM in the music world, rights management is being reinvented as network layer and backend sets of processes and services. Network providers will increasingly play traffic cops and apply rules such as "don't allow transmission of the copyrighted material" across our network. Similar functions are being developed / applied in the User Generated Content world (UGC).

Microsoft and Computer Associates Think Watermarking Patents

The USPTO issues new patents on Tuesdays. Several watermarking related patents issued today. Here are two. Assigned to Microsoft, the first describes techniques for decoding temporal watermarks in compressed video. Assigned to Computer Associates Think, Inc., the second describes ways of using watermarks for the remote discovery of software applications in a networked environment.

Microsoft Fingerprinting and Verance Watermarking Patent Applications

Yesterday the USPTO published the first batch of 2008 patent applications. In today's spotlight are two dealing with fingerprinting and watermarking. Assigned to Microsoft, the first application describes techniques for DVD identification and managed copy authorization that use fingerprinting. Assigned to Verance, the second application describes techniques for signal continuity assessment using embedded watermarks.

Matsushita Watermarking and DRM-Superdistribution Patents

The USPTO issues new patents on Tuesdays and yesterday was no exception. Two from Matsushita are highlighted in todays patent spotlight. The first addresses techniques for watermarking content.

The second patent addresses ways of transforming data in a copyright protection system. What's interesting about this one is that it references superdistribution: turning consumers into distributors, a term I haven't seen in a while. Superdistribution was coined by Ryoichi Mori in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

US Govt and Hitachi Watermarking Patents

On Tuesdays, the USPTO issues new patents, and Chrismas was no exception. Both of today's spotlight patents address various aspects of watermarking. Assigned to the US Government, the first describes techniques for frequency domain watermarking using a phase based filter signature. Assigned to Hitachi, the second patent addresses ways of detecting digital watermark information.

Fingerprinting and Watermarking Patent Applications

The USPTO publishes patent applications on Thursdays. Today's spotlight applications address the use of fingerprinting and watermarking in protecting digital content. The first application discloses techniques for managing, reviewing, comparing and detecting data on a wide area network, no assignee given. Assigned to Samsung, the second application discloses techniques for inserting video watermark in compression domain.

Media Fingerprinting Patent Applications

Patent applications are partial indicators of what companies and individual inventors have been thinking about. Both of today's applications address media fingerprinting. Assigned to UMC Technologies, the first application describes techniques for fingerprinting digital content. Assigned to Widevine, the second application describes certain techniques and uses of media fingerprinting.