According to Digimarc CEO Bruce Davis, the patent covers an as yet unnamed application that the company is working on to solve copyright issues posed by user-generated content and social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace.
The ideas protected by the Digimarc patent would allow content producers to embed contact information in their material in the same way photographers use watermarks, Davis said.
“Digital watermarking — and, in particular, the innovations described in this newly issued patent — can be an important element of building long-term viable business models from the disruptive changes in entertainment distribution and consumption that have evolved, as embodied most strikingly in social networking sites,” Davis said.
Davis said he thinks Digimarc’s patent could not only help copyright holders protect their material online, but also allow for content producers to find new revenue streams on social networking sites.
“Much of the repurposed content on YouTube, for example, contains copyrighted entertainment,” he said. “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. 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 practice, the system would work only if players in each part of the distribution chain used the system, ArsTechnica writer Ken Fisher said.
But Fisher cautioned, the system is best suited for sites such as YouTube rather than file-sharing sites because the application scans public webpages, not P2P networks.
The patent is entitled, “Method For Monitoring Internet Dissemination Of Image, Video and/or Audio Files.”
