Managing Rights Management

Walmart and Americorp Blockchian and DRM Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Today's Spotlight Patents concern blockchains (distributed ledgers, smart contracts) and rights management broadly construed. Assigned to Walmart, the first patent addresses techniques for managing reservations and deliveries for a docking station. Assigned to Americorp Financial, the second patent addresses techniques for generating a customized view of a blockchain transaction.

Huawei and Smart Security Systems Blockchain and DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published by the USPTO on Thursdays. Today's Spotlight Applications continue our theme of blockchain (distributed ledger, smart contracts) and digital rights management broadly construed. Assigned to Huawei (CN), the first application discloses techniques for copyright management. Assigned to Smart Security Systems, the second application discloses techniques for protecting enterprise communications and data.

AirWatch and Microsoft DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published on Thursdays. Both of this week's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to [VMWare] AirWatch, the first application addresses techniques for applying rights management policies to protected files. Assigned to Microsoft, the second patent addresses techniques for using multiple content protection systems in a file.

IBM and Tata DRM Patents

New patents are issued by the USPTO on Tuesdays. Both of this week's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to IBM, the first patent addresses techniques for accessing an electronic asset using content augmentation. Assigned to Tata, the second patent addresses techniques for assigning access rights in enterprise digital rights management systems.

Intellectual Discovery and Schneider Electric Industries DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published on Thursdays. Both of this week's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Intellectual Discovery (KR), the first applications discloses methods  for providing a license corresponding to encrypted contents to client apparatus and digital rights management conversion system using the methods. Assigned to Schneider Electric Industries (FR), the second application discloses techniques for authentication and authorization in an industrial control system using a single digital certificate.

Rockwell Automation and ATT 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 Rockwell Automation Technologies, the first patent addresses techniques for applying digital rights management to industrial automation devices including programmable logic controllers (PLCs), I/O devices, and communication adapters. Assigned to AT&T, the second patent addresses techniques for digital rights management including a digital agent for contacting a media host.

Hitachi Maxell and M-Files DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published by the PTO on Thursdays. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Hitachi Maxell (JP), the first application discloses a content viewing system capable of carrying out cooperation among devices while ensuring security and copyright management. Assigned to M-FIles OY (FI), the second application discloses techniques for deriving access rights from one or more security components originating from respective metadata items of at least one object, and determining the effective access rights for the object by means of the security components.

Tata and Adobe DRM Patents

New patents are issued by the PTO on Tuesdays. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Tata (IN), the first of today's patents addresses techniques for access rights management in enterprise digital rights management systems. Assigned to Adobe, the second patent addresses techniques for protecting video as it is decoded by a codec.

Symantec and M-Files Oy DRM Patents

New patents are issued on Tuesdays by the USPTO. Both of today's Spotlight Patents concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Symantec, the first patent addresses techniques for viewing content under enterprise digital rights management without a client side access component. Assigned to M-Files Oy (FI), the second patent addresses techniques for for defining access rights in metadata-based file arrangement.

Dataguise and Irdeto DRM Patent Applications

New pending patent applications are published on Thurdays by the PTO. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management and related concepts. Assigned to Dataguise, the first application discloses techniques for access-controlled decryption in big data stores. Assigned to Irdeto (NL), the second application discloses techniques for controlling use of encrypted content by a plurality of client terminals each provided with a digital rights management (DRM) client and a content decryption module separate to the DRM client.

Intertrust and Disney DRM Patent Applications

Happy New Year to all. The PTO publishes new pending patent applications on Tuesdays. Today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Intertrust, the first application discloses trusted infrastructure support systems, methods and techniques for secure electronic commerce, electronic transactions and rights management. Assigned to Disney, the second application discloses trust based digital rights management systems.

Tata and Nielsen DRM Patent Applications

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!  Even on holiday Thursdays, the PTO publishes new pending patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Tata Consulting Services (IN), the first application discloses techniques for controlling access rights of a document using enterprise digital rights management. Assigned to Nielsen, the second application discloses digital rights management techniques for audience measurement.

General Instrument and Citrix Systems DRM Patent Applications

Thursdays the PTO publishes new pending patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to General Instrument, the first application discloses techniques for policy enforcement for multiple devices using an audience definition. Assigned to Citrix Systems, the second application discloses techniques for dynamically associating access rights with a resource.

Ericsson and Tata DRM Patent Applications

Thursdays the Patent Office publishes new pending patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Ericsson, the first application discloses for establishing a secured communication channel for communicating digital content. Assigned to Tata Consultancy Services (IN), the second application discloses techniques for access rights management in enterprise digital rights management systems.

Tata and Huawei DRM Patent Applications

On Thursdays the USPTO publishes new pending patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Tata Consultancy Services (IN), the first application discloses techniques for enterprise digital rights management. Assigned to Huawei Technologies (CN), the second application discloses technques for making system constraints of a specified permission in digital rights management.

Microsoft and LG DRM Patent Applications

On Thursdays the USPTO publishes new pending patent applications. Both of today's Spotlight Applications concern aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Microsoft, the first application discloses techniques for controlling access to resources by hosted entities. Assigned to LG Electronics, the second application discloses techniques for controlling a mobile terminal.

Microsoft and IBM DRM Patents

On Tuesdays the USPTO issues new patents. Today's Spotlight Patents address aspects of digital rights management. Assigned to Microsoft, the first patent concerns techniques for enforcing advertisement playback for downloaded media content. Assigned to IBM, the second patent concerns techniques for managing access to physical data via a data abstraction model.

Podcast With Airzip CEO Gary Clueit - Enterprise Rights Management

I spoke recently with Gary Clueit, CEO of AirZip, the provider of FileSECURE Enterprise Rights Management software. Today's podcast is an edited version of our recent conversation. The topics covered include differences between China and the United States in business culture, information security, and ERM. A detailed time-index topic list follows:

Download Gary Clueit Podcast (MP3)

Index and topics:

00:00 Introductions
00:15 Background, Gary Cluit, AirZip
02:00 ERM in low enforcement jurisdictions, especially the China market
04:46 The compliance market for ERM?
05:41 FileSECURE scaleability, ERM for both large and small companies
06:16 Example workflow with users in different organizations
08:58 FileSECURE integration with LDAP, AD, directory services
09:49 When integrated with LDAP, who defines or manages permissions?
12:03 How is information security evolving in China, Europe, and the USA?
16:37 Key differentiators between FileSECURE and competitors' products?
18:49 With new customers, how does FileSECURE handle legacy documents?
20:08 Thank yous and goodbys

AirZip ERM, Acresso, EMC Updates

AirZip has been added to the list ERM providers. Interware has been acquired by Acresso, and belatedly, the EMC acquisition of Authentica has been noted to the right under Enterprise.

Podcast With Ed Gaudet, Liquid Machines, ERM

Liquid Machines (LM) is the last remaining important independent US-based Enterprise Rights Management (ERM) company. It's earlier independent competitors were acquired: SealedMedia by Stellant and, in turn, Oracle, and Authentica by EMC.

I recently spoke at length with Ed Gaudet, Liquid Machines' SVP Corporate Development and Marketing about Rights Management, ease of use, the competitive landscape, ERM and content management technologies, and related topics.

An edited Podcast version of our conversation is available in MP3 format here.

A time index to our conversation follows:

Seclore Added To List of ERM Companies

Mumbai-based Seclore has been added to the list of ERM/IRM companies in the right column.

Enterprise and Mobile DRM Mini-Roundup

Here's a roundup of various recent Enterprise and Mobile DRM stories:

Enterprise Rights Management software vendor Liquid Machines has announced adding  Dr. Renato A. DiPentima to their Board of Direrectors and achieving Microsoft Gold Partner Certification. Earlier this year they closed a $10M Series D equity financing,

Oracle's latest release of their Information Rights Management product (nee SealedMedia) is now available. The product protects sensitive information contained in emails.

SafeNet acquires Norweigen mobile DRM company Beep Science AS, according to this SafeNet press release.

Vista, DRM, and the Enterprise Preference for XP?

In a recent article, InfoWorld's Randall Kennedy suggests that DRM is a factor in the preference among Enterprise IT folks for XP over Vista.

Of course, the secret to maintaining a de facto monopoly is to not push your customer base too far. Every industry segment has its breaking point, a fact Microsoft learned the hard way with Windows Vista. With Vista, they ignored IT, choosing to instead kowtow to big media and the DRM crowd. The result was an unprecedented backlash as angry IT shops spurned Vista and drove the Save XP campaign to international attention.

Perhaps Kennedy means that it's not DRM per se that's the problem, but Microsoft's failure to include in Vista goodies of interest to a preponderance of Enterprise IT shops.

Personally, I'd like to avoid Vista for as long as possible because XP works. I very seldom have problems that can be traced back to the OS rather than to apps. But I'm not running an Enterprise-scale environment either.

Enterprise Rights Management of Critical Importance, Says ABI

ABI says that Enterprise Rights Management is and will continue to be important. They go on to say that there are a limited number of ERM vendors and that the market is growing.

Just five large firms — market leader Microsoft, EMC, Oracle, and Adobe — and one smaller one, Liquid Machines, serve the world’s ERM demand. (EMC and Oracle entered the market by acquiring Authentica and Stellent respectively; Stellent had previously acquired a DRM company called SealedMedia.) Although ERM implementations are found in Asia and Europe, the bulk of demand and revenue come from the United States.

“ABI Research expects stable and robust ERM market growth,” says Aima. “The next few years probably represent the strongest growth potential, before ERM becomes commoditized.”

More on ERM in the next couple of weeks.

Nearly Half of Workers Steal Data When Changing Jobs

Information Week reports a study indicating that 45% of respondents admit stealing corporate data when changing jobs. Commissioned by Enterprise DRM company Liquid Machines, the study reported:

Of the 45% of respondents who said they've taken data with them when they've left a job, some said they simply e-mailed data to a personal address. Others said they walked out the door with the data, usually on a peripheral storage device, tucked in a bag or pocket. Eighty-seven percent said they're allowed to use flash drives, while 69% can use external hard drives. Even MP3 players, which are used by 46% of respondents, can be used as external hard drives.

The study also showed that with so many admitting to taking data with them when they leave jobs, it's no surprise that 53% of respondents said they suspect their companies' intellectual property is being used by the competition. Among manufacturing employees, a whopping 71% said their competition has used their companies' intellectual property. Technology employees agree with this statement 63% of the time.

Goldman Does DRM

Bank Technology News reports that Goldman Sachs is implementing Liquid Machine's Enterprise Rights Management for both security and compliance. (Goldman is an investor in Liquid).

...Although it provides an audit trail for document use, ERM doesn't supply compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley financial record dictums, and is overkill for a bank looking only to keeping client records confidential. In addition, adds The Burton Group senior analyst Trent Henry, "there's a fairly significant amount of complexity, and concerns about interrupting work and efficiency."

Because of ERM's nascent presence in the market, for example, many CIOs are unsure how to set rights management in an offline environment-such as when the CFO is on a four-hour flight with his laptop, unable to authenticate his credentials to a spreadsheet file. "What is also going to change," says Henry, "is the burden on individual users." They must understand what sorts of policies and templates to apply when creating documents, so as not to needlessly encrypt an internal memo on, say, office kitchen rules.

MSFT, Authentica, and Independent DRM Vendors

BusinessWeekOnline has an interview with attorney Thomas Vinje, who represents Microsoft antagonists, in which Vinje notes:

In February, ECIS filed a new complaint that accuses Microsoft of trying to extend its dominance via planned new products, such as a new operating system for servers. What does that mean exactly?

What Microsoft is trying to do now is bundle digital rights management products into the operating system. We've seen this movie before. We've seen it with Netscape, with RealPlayer (which lost massive market share after Microsoft bundled similar products into Windows).

Microsoft has 70% of the overall server market, they are certainly dominant. Try selling digital rights management products when there is already a usable one in the operating system.

ESS Taceo Added To Email DRM List

Essential Security Software's Taceo email product has been added to the right hand sidebar list under Email, DRM enabled. Taceo is focused on the numerically large small business market. Taceo is principally an Outlook plugin that can protect files in Microsoft Office and PDF format.

Open Source Document DRM

Neil McAllister's InfoWorld article, In Praise of Digital Rights Management, strikes the right balance.  Putting DRM in the hands of very one is, in my view, a most important goal. Snippets:

GigaTrust's Federated RMS Service

Federated or multi-organization DRM is, of course, one of the Holy Grails of Enterprise Rights Management. Now GigaTrust has announced a federated DRM service for those who have implemented Microsoft's RMS. Snippets:

Sun Details DRM Goals With MSFT

TheRegister (UK) has an article describing, among other things, Sun's and Microsoft's collaboration on DRM. Snippets:

Sendmail Expands Parternships

Sendmail has announced that it has expanded its Platform Partnership Program to include solutions from Authentica, eleven, Feith and ZANTAZ.  Snippets:

Authentica Announces Improvements

Authentica has announced improvements in its Secure Email and Active Rights Management products. Snippets:

Liquid Machines Announcement

Liquid Machines has announced the general availability of its Document Control 5.0 DRM  and 3.0 Email control that extends Microsoft's Rights Management Services (RMS) on Windows Server 2003.  Snippets:

Coffee Break

eWeek columnist Peter Coffee's May 2nd column, "It's Time to Stop Overpackaging and Underprotecting Content" starts out in the right direction but fundamentally misunderstands Digital Rights Management. If I understand what he's saying, it's that creators often fail to implement appropriate security given the nature and context of their information. So far so good.

Here's what I don't understand:

Digital rights management is a common stalking-horse for intrusive restrictions on moving bits from one place to another. Hypothetically, imagine being barred from attaching an Excel spreadsheet to an e-mail unless you give the e-mail service provider your authorization code for document-exchange rights from a registered copy of Microsoft Office.

Digimarc Enhances Tracking and Monitoring of Images on the Internet

DigiMarc announced today an upgrade to its ImageBridge watermarking software product for image identification and search capabilities. Snippets:

"As the world's preeminent visual solutions provider, Corbis relies on Digimarc to defend our photographers' copyrights against infringement," said David Weiskopf, Corporate Counsel at Corbis. "We are excited about the enhanced image tracking capabilities offered in ImageBridge 2005. Digimarc continues to help Corbis lead the industry down the path of protection."

Stock photo, entertainment and consumer brand companies publish and distribute valuable digital images extensively in their online marketing and sales efforts. ImageBridge 2005 provides new search services to track these image assets on the Web, enhancing enterprise security and compliance programs.

 

Avoco Secure: UK-based Enterprise P2P DRM

I recently had a conversation with Sandy Porter, Business Development, at Avoco Secure (“Avoco”), an Enterprise DRM company based in the United Kingdom.  Avoco competes in the document security and rights management space. The company is presently in the early customer adoption phase and is approaching general availability with its document DRM solution, secure2trust (“s2t”).

Before discussing the company and its s2t DRM product, here is some broader background that establishes some context.

Enterprise DRM In The 21st Century

The Enterprise IT world has started to recover from the collapse of the dot com bubble and the consequences of 9/11. We are now witnessing, I believe, the 3nd Coming of DRM. Several Enterprise DRM companies either were founded or got funding and achieved momentum after the turn of the century. There is now a lively and apparently growing international market for Enterprise DRM software products.  Specific competitors are addressed later in this blogicle.

Approva BizRights: Enterprise Controls Management (1.1)

I recently spent time talking with Ian Walsh, Director of Product Marketing for Approva Corporation. Approva provides applications used in conjunction with certain major enterprise software systems that materially increase the management, security, transparency, and auditability of these systems. Approva is a leader in the application domain called Enterprise Controls Management and should be of interest to security professionals, auditors, and corporate executives and business managers and others interested in permissions, entitlements, controls, rights management, and audit information.

Recent Additions

Pinon Software has been added to the list of Enterprise DRM vendors.

Blueprint has been added to the Music & Video and Mobile DRM lists

Cauldron Solutions has been added to the Muisc & Video list.

Gord Larose' DRM Dictionary has been added under "related / adjacent"

Poor planning undercuts info sharing, DHS official says

An article in Government Computer News addresses the lack of progress on information sharing across organizations.

A lack of clear strategies and concepts of operation is holding up progress on information sharing, Martin Smith, director of information sharing for the Homeland Security Department’s CIO Office, writes in a new report.

Wither Enterprise DRM Vendors?

What's the future of Enterprise DRM vendors such as Authentica, IntraWare, Liquid Machines, SealedMedia, to name a few? What strategies can companies like these employ to ensure not only that they survive, but thrive, especially when the need for Enterprise DRM-enabled applications is so great?

Why do these questions arise at all? Consider the following:

• Microsoft continues to DRM-enable it's major enterprise platforms.
• The Linux community hates DRM;
  • it's oh so not Open Source and
  • there is a growing body of DRM-related patents that are being licensed, but the Open Source community hates software patents as well.
• SUN Microsystems
  • Sun has apparently made peace with DRM, but Sun appears to be moving away from its proprietary version of Unix toward Open Source. How far it will move is another matter.

Where can Enterprise DRM vendors go? There are only three directions: Up, Down, and Sideways.

More in another posting.

Liquid Machines, Code Rewrite

Various approaches to cross-platform and cross-application interoperability have been suggested. One idea is an interpreted DRM virtual machine (a Java-like VM but for rights management). However appealing, so far this approach seems mainly to push important difficult security issues down into the DRM-VM.

Cross-application interoperability has been attempted by using a combination of secure viewers with (a) redirectors that trap Operating System calls or network events or (b) a middleware layer that provides services to applications. Redirectors are used by some security applications, [e.g., certain Symantec products] so they have their uses even though significant limitations exist in most cases.  Middleware also presents certain security challenges that can be mitigated, but not fully eliminated, which is one reason why DRM ultimately needs to be rooted in the OS. Even if DRM is rooted in the OS, there are, of course, many OSs running on all kinds of devices.

One US patent application 20030018906, "Method and system for protecting software applications against static and dynamic software piracy techniques," assigned to Liquid Machines describes, among other things, another approach that is very cute (meant as a term of high praise). Its one of those ideas that I wish I had thought of. So what's the idea?

The cuteness entails: A method for protecting a software application module, comprising: rewriting the application module by overwriting executable code at identified authorization points.... and then inserting code that deals with authorization, entitlements, etc.

This rewrite the code approach implies generality: any OS, any application.

Of course, both the Devil and God are in the implementation details.