Managing Rights Management

Are AACS Licensing Fees Killing The Blu-ray DIsc Industry?

Just when it seemed like no one cared much about AACS, one of the two major security technologies used in Blu-ray discs and systems, Mark Fritz writes on eMediaLive.com that AACS licensing fees remain a problem for 2nd tier distributors. At the DVD/BD production house Scope Seven, company president Duncan... Read more →

Two Issued Patents From Intertrust

On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Both of today's Spotlight Patents are assigned to Intertrust and address various aspects of security. The first patent concerns software self-defense systems and methods. The inventors include computer science stars such as Bob Tarjan. The second patent concerns a hardware secure processing unit... Read more →

EA Sued Over DRM - Rootkit Redux

GamePro (among numerous online sources) says that Electronic Arts is being sued over its DRM for the game Spore. According to the Federal Court filing, Sony's SecuROM DRM program "is installed without notice and cannot be uninstalled, even if you uninstall Spore," and it "prevents the computer from operating under... Read more →

Watarmarking Related Issued Patents

On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern various aspects of watermarking. Assigned to Dolby Laboratories, the first of today's patents addresses encrypted and watermarked temporal and resolution layering in advanced television. Assigned to Toshiba, the second patent addresses specific techniques for detecting certain kinds... Read more →

Watermarking Related US Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes new patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern various aspects of watermarking. Assigned to Imagineer Software, the first application discloses techniques for secure communication and real-time watermarking using mutating identifiers. The second application discloses systems and techniques for managing a digital inventory of multimedia files... Read more →

Watermarking Related Issued US Patents

On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Both of today's Spotlight Patents address the use of watermarking. Assigned to Verimatraix, the first patent addresses the use of watermarking in a network-based content distribution system. The second patent, assigned to The Research Foundation of SUNY, has been reissued after reexamination and... Read more →

Kyocera Watermarking and Microsoft Fingerprinting Patent Applications

Thursdays the USPTO publishes new pending patent applications. Watermarking and Fingerprinting continue to be hot areas for innovation. The first of today's Spotlight Applications, assigned to Kyocera, discloses an image processing device, recording medium, and image processing method. Assigned to Microsoft, the second application discloses techniques for image comparison. 20080219497,... Read more →

Pioneer and Digimarc Watermarking Patents

On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Both of today's Spotlight Patents entail the use of watermarking. Assigned to Pioneer, the first patent addresses watermarking embedding and a record medium having an electronic watermark. Assigned to Digimarc, the second patent concerns authentication of physical and electronic media objects using digital... Read more →

Two Phillips Watermarking Patent Applications

On Thursdays the USPTO publishes new pending patent applications. Apparently watermarking continues to be apparently fertile ground for innovation. Both of Today's Spotlight Applications concern the use of watermarking and both are from Phillips. The first application discloses homomorphic encryption for secure watermarking. The second discloses 20080212780, "Homomorphic Encryption For... Read more →

Phillips Acquires The Rest of Teletrax

Phillips has announced that is has acquired the portion of Telextrax, the video content tracking service, that it did not own from former joint venture partner Medialink. Teletrax was launched in 2002 as a joint venture between Philips and Medialink Worldwide Incorporated (Nasdaq: MDLK). Based on Philips’ digital watermarking, and... Read more →

McAfee and Microsoft Fingerprinting Issued Patents

On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Not much happening on the rights management front today, but watermarking and fingerprinting continue to be relatively hot areas for issued patents and patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern the use of fingerprinting. Assigned to McAfee, the first patent addresses techniques... Read more →