INTENT MediaWorks Leads Multi-Industry P2P Watermarking Initiative.

White Paper Produced by Collaboration of Leading Technology and Entertainment Industry Groups, Including the DWA and MPAA, Describes How Digital Watermarks Can Benefit Both Consumers and Content Owners

ATLANTA -- INTENT MediaWorks, the leading provider of technology for the distribution of licensed digital media content and advertising via the Internet, and the Distributed Computing Industry Association (www.dcia.info), a trade organization with nearly one-hundred Member companies representing peer-to-peer (P2P) and social networking software providers, content rights holders, and service-and-support companies, today announced the publication of a white paper entitled "Digital Watermarking Technologies - Applications in P2P Networks." This initiative, led by INTENT, represented a groundbreaking collaboration among entertainment and technology industry groups, including the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Digital Watermarking Alliance (DWA). The resulting white paper outlines how digital watermarks can be used in P2P networks to provide benefits to all constituents: consumers, P2P system operators, Internet service providers (ISPs), and content owners.

Digital watermarks are digital data elements that are embedded into, and read from, video, audio and still images. They allow digital content to be self-identifying or carry information that may trigger a defined behavior. The digital watermark data is not perceptible to the human eye or ear, but can be read by computers. Digital watermarks enhance the user experience, facilitate business rules and enrich the media ecosystem.

A work product of the DCIA-sponsored P2P Digital Watermark Working Group (PDWG), the document is being provided today to Members of Congress at the House Entertainment Industries Caucus hosted by the Digital Watermarking Alliance (DWA), a PDWG participant. The white paper will also be circulated this week by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), another PDWG participant, among its members, affiliates and constituents. Additionally, it will be distributed to industry delegates on Tuesday February 6th at the P2P MEDIA SUMMIT NY and made available online thereafter by the DCIA.

"The mission of the PDWG is to work jointly and cooperatively with leading content and technology companies to describe appropriate and voluntary best practices for the use of digital watermarking in the P2P distribution channel," said PDWG Chairman Les Ottolenghi, CEO, President & Co-Founder of INTENT MediaWorks, a DCIA Member company.

"Our intention with this effort has been to provide an overview of how watermarks can be used in P2P networks to enable content distribution, enhance consumer experience, and support effective content management and protection of copyrighted material," noted DCIA CEO Marty Lafferty.

Digital watermarks are in extensive use around the world, with billions of digitally watermarked objects in use for broadcast monitoring and copy protection. Major record labels and movie studios currently use digital watermarks to track content in production and prior to release to the public. The current effort is designed to promote an ecosystem of content that can be leveraged to facilitate the creation of legitimate, new P2P content distribution offerings.

"The paper describes how embedding, detecting and responding to watermarks can work to identify digitally distributed content in order to enable effective monitoring, media serialization and management of copyrighted content," added Digital Watermarking Alliance Chairman Reed Stager.

"This is a prime illustration of the motion picture industry's commitment to engage with technology companies to promote technological innovation that helps offer consumers new viewing choices," said Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association Dan Glickman.

"Through our collaboration with the DCIA and DWA we are encouraged to see how innovative technologies, such as digital watermarking can be used to provide consumers with a wider range of legitimate ways to get movies using P2P networks."

The white paper includes an overview, background and workflow summary of P2P digital watermarking, leading to a description of five exemplary usage cases:

1. Substituting a watermarked file for a different version of the file.

2. Enabling a transaction to monetize the use of a watermarked file.

3. Enhancing consumer experience by enabling access to related materials.

4. Allowing or blocking retransmission of a file with a particular watermark.

5. Enhancing the P2P infrastructure by reporting data to measurement services.

There are alternative technologies that provide complementary approaches. It is the intent of the DCIA to investigate all such categories of technologies and work to enable P2P infrastructures that will enhance the P2P ecosystem.

About INTENT MediaWorks

INTENT MediaWorks is the leading provider of technology for the legal and profitable distribution of licensed digital media content and advertising via the Internet and P2P file trading systems. Currently being used by several large music companies and independent artists, INTENT was named Best New Digital Technology at the 2006 Digital Music Conference. For more information on INTENT MediaWorks, please visit www.intentmediaworks.com.