Bruce Davis Elected Chairman of Digimarc Board of Directors; Davis' Predecessor, Philip J. Monego, Retires Chairman Post At Digimarc's Annual Shareholders Meeting.

Business Editors

TUALATIN, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2002

Digimarc Corp. (Nasdaq:DMRC), the leader in digital watermarking solutions, announced today that Digimarc CEO Bruce Davis has been elected Chairman of the Board.

His election occurred earlier today by the Board of Directors at a meeting held in conjunction with Digimarc's annual shareholders meeting in Portland, Oregon.

Davis replaces Philip J. Monego, who was appointed Digimarc Chairman shortly after the company's founding six years ago. Monego announced his intention to retire at last year's shareholders meeting. He will remain a member of the Digimarc Board of Directors and will continue to serve on both the Compensation and Audit Committees.

"Bruce Davis has demonstrated enormous commitment, dedication and hard work to growing Digimarc's business, most recently through the strategic acquisition of Polaroid's ID systems business, and promoting industry adoption of digital watermarking," said Monego. "This is an appropriate time to transition the chairmanship into Bruce's able hands. I am confident that his leadership and management skills will continue to drive shareholder value."

"We are very fortunate to have benefited from Philip Monego's strong investor support, guidance and loyalty over the past six years," said Davis. "Philip has been a huge supporter of our business, and his contributions have been invaluable to Digimarc. His role in securing funding from such investors as Philips N.V. and Reuters enabled Digimarc to launch its first products and win its first high-value customer contracts. It is an honor to follow in his footsteps as Chairman."

Bruce Davis has served as Digimarc's chief executive officer and director since December 1997. He has more than 20 years experience developing and driving the early adoption of new digital technologies ranging from video games and computer entertainment to electronic TV program guides and most recently digital watermarking-based applications. Since joining Digimarc, Davis has overseen the development of a continual stream of innovative media applications that address issues of major importance to the technology marketplace today -- counterfeiting and piracy deterrence, digital rights management, and simplified Internet access.

Over his 30-year career in the information technology industry, Philip Monego has served as founder, CEO, senior executive and investor in more than a dozen companies. He currently serves as founder, CEO and chairman of Voquette Inc., an enterprise content management software company. Monego previously held senior executive management roles at NetChannel Inc. and Yahoo!

About Digimarc

Digimarc Corp. (Nasdaq:DMRC), based in Tualatin, Ore., is the leading provider of digital watermarking components and technologies used in a wide range of security, identification and brand protection applications.

Digimarc ID Systems LLC, based in Bedford, Mass., and a wholly owned subsidiary of Digimarc, is a leading global provider of secure and durable personal identification solutions, and is the leading producer of drivers licenses in the U.S., providing systems and services to 36 states. Internationally, Digimarc ID Systems produces identification documents for governments around the world.

Digimarc has an extensive intellectual property portfolio, with 60 issued U.S. patents with more than 1,000 claims, and more than 300 pending applications for U.S. patents, in digital watermarking, personal identification and related technologies. Please go to www.digimarc.com for more company information.

Securities Safe Harbor 

With the exception of historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain certain "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current reasonable expectations and are subject to certain assumptions, risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied from the statements herein or from historical results, due to changes in economic, business, competitive, technological and/or regulatory factors. More detailed information about these factors is set forth in filings by Digimarc with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent annual report on Form 10-K and the most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Digimarc is not obligated to (and expressly disclaims any obligation to) revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances, whether they arise as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.