Managing Rights Management

GE and Alibaba Blockchain and Rights Management Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of blockchains (smart contracts, distributed ledgers) and rights management broadly construed. Assigned to GE, the first application discloses techniques for the prevention of black-listed parts from being 3D-printed. Assigned to Alibaba, the second application discloses techniques for blockchain-based copyright protection.

Accenture and Alibaba Blockchain and DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of blockchain (distributed ledger, smart contracts) and digital rights management broadly construed. Assigned to Accenture, the first application discloses techniques for a decentralized supply chain for three-dimensional printing based on distributed ledger technology. Assigned to Alibaba, the second application discloses techniques for verifying the integrity of data stored in a consortium blockchain using a public sidechain.

Intertrust and eBay DRM and 3D Printing Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern digital rights management and 3D objects and printing. Assigned to Intertrust Technologies, the first patent addresses techniques for protecting intellectual property rights in connection with 3-dimensional printing processes. Assigned to eBay, the second patent addresses techniques for digital rights and integrity management in three-dimensional (3D) printing.

Accenture and Forcepoint Blockchain and DRM Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Today's Spotlight Patents continue our theme of blockchain (distributed ledger,smart contracts) and digital rights management broadly construed. Assigned to Accenture, the first patent addresses techniques for secure 3D model sharing using distributed ledger. Assigned to Forcepoint, the second of today's patents addresses techniques for generating a user behavior profile in a blockchain.

Colson Reseach and Amazon Blockchain and DRM Patent Applications

New patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Today's Spotlight Applications continue the theme of blockchain (block chain, distributed ledger) and digital rights management broadly construed. Apparently assigned to Colson Research, the first application discloses techniques for distributed manufacturing. Assigned to Amazon, the second application discloses techniques for immutable cryptographically secured ledger-backed databases.

Two Watermarking Patents From Thomson

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital watermarking and both are assigned to Thomson (FR). The first of today's patents addresses techniques for watermarking a three-dimensional object. Today's second patent addresses techniques for increasing the strength of phase-based watermarking of an audio signal.

Microsoft and eBay DRM Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to MSFT, the first patent addresses remote data access techniques for portable devices. Assigned to eBay, the second of today's patents addresses 3D printing marketplaces with federated access to printers.

Accenture and BofA DRM and Blockchain Patent Applications

For this week's Spotlight Applications, we are looking at blockchain and digital rights management. Assigned to Accenture, the first application discloses techniques for secure 3D model sharing using distributed ledger. Assigned to Bank of America, the second application discloses techniques for establishing secure access for users in a process data network.

KAIST and Digimarc Watermarking Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital watermarking. Assigned to KAIST (KR), the first application discloses techniques for three-dimensional mesh model watermarking method using segmentation. Assigned to Digimarc, the second application discloses techniques for rendering image content that include a digital watermark pattern at an essentially fixed scale, regardless of the size of screen on which the content is displayed.

Xerox and Nielsen Digital Watermarking Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Both of this week's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital watermarking. Assigned to Xerox, the first patent addresses techniques for 3D printer steganography. Assigned to Nielsen, the second patent addresses techniques for down-mixing compensation for audio watermarking.

eBay and Adobe DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Both of this week's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to eBay, the first application discloses techniques for digital rights and integrity management in three-dimensional (3D) printing. Assigned to Adobe, the second application discloses techniques for digital rights management using geographic and temporal traits.

Accenture and LVRT DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published on Thursdays.  Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Accenture, the first application discloses techniques for 3-D printing protected by digital rights management. Assigned to LVRT, the second application discloses techniques for a database system for dynamic retrieval of nested data items [including copyrighted items and derivatives].

eBay and Intertrust DRM Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to eBay, the first patent addresses techniques for digital rights and integrity management in three-dimensional (3D) printing. Assigned to Intertrust, the second patent addresses techniques for protecting electronic content from the time it is packaged through the time it is experienced by an end user

Intel and Broadcom DRM Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Intel, the first patent addresses technologies for digital rights management of 3D printable models. Assigned to Broadcom, the second patent addresses techniques for  social media video encoding.

NBC Universal Media and Snapchat Fingerprinting Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published on Thursdays by the USPTO. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital fingerprinting. Assigned to NBC Universal Media, the first application discloses techniques for generating a fingerprint and identifying a three-dimensional model. Assigned to Snapchat, the second application discloses techniques for setting a gallery of videos to an audio time line.

eBay and Sony DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to eBay, the first application discloses techniques for digital rights and integrity management in three-dimensional (3d) printing. Assigned to Sony, the second application discloses techniques for digital rights management of encrypted digital content.

Amazon and Google Digital Fingerprinting Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital fingerprinting. Assigned to Amazon, the first patent addresses techniques useful for 3D printing data for viewpoint invariant object recognition. Assigned to Google, the second patent addresses techniques for associating audio tracks of an album with video content.

Thomson Watermarking and John Hopkins Fingerprinting Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Today's Spotlight Applications address digital watermarking of 3D objects (as in 3D printing) and fingerprinting as a method of determining software binary code similarities. Assigned to Thomson (FR), the first application discloses techniques for watermarking a three-dimensional object represented by a mesh. Assigned to The John Hopkins University, the second application discloses techniques for identifying similarity between query samples and stored samples in an efficiently maintained reference library.

Comcast and Amazon DRM Patent Applications

New patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Comcast, the first application discloses techniques for video resolution enforcement and optimization in an adaptive bitrate environment. Assigned to Amazon, the second application discloses techniques for a 3D printing marketplace with federated access to printers.

Microsoft? and MobiTV DRM Patent Applications

Thursdays the PTO publishes new pending patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Possibly assigned to Microsoft, the first application discloses techniques including DRM for electronic commerce and fabrication of 3D parts. Assigned to MobiTV, the second application discloses digital rights management for http-based media streaming.

IV's 3D Printing DRM Patents and Applications

At recent International CES shows, I've been eyeballing 3D printer technologies and vendors.  Last October, Ryan Whitwam wrote that:

While you were busy getting yourself all worked up and declaring 3D printing the beginning of a new age, one of the most maligned figures in modern patent law is preparing to rain on your parade. Nathan Myhrvold, former Microsoft CTO and founder of patent holder Intellectual Ventures, has managed to get an expansive patent on 3D printing DRM. That 3D printing revolution we’ve been hoping for just got a lot trickier.

Turns out that the patents Whitwam references belong either to Searete, LLC or to The Invention Science Fund I, LLC, both apparently vehicles of Intellectual Ventures. Myhrvold is not listed as inventor.

Here is a list of Searete's and Invention Science's US patent and pending applications that address digital rights management and 3D printing and, more generally, secure manufacturing. Some pendings are continuations of the same specification and differ only in the claims. Nonetheless, this list does provide an overview into Intellectual Ventures' efforts in these areas.