Macrovision, Philips, and Digimarc Join Forces to Propose New Digital Watermarking and Play Control Standard.SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 1998-- Leading-Edge Watermarking Technologies Will be Merged to Prevent Unauthorized Copying of Digital Media Macrovision Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :MVSN MVSN Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (Italy) ), Royal Philips Electronics N.V. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :PHG), and Digimarc Corporation (Portland, Ore.) today announced they have reached an agreement to work together to develop and market a combined digital watermarking Digital watermarking is a technique which allows an individual to add hidden copyright notices or other verification messages to digital audio, video, or image signals and documents. and play control solution to prevent unauthorized copying of high-quality digital video discs and electronically delivered digital video transmissions. The three companies will merge their respective watermarking and play control patents, technologies and industry expertise to present a single, low cost solution to the Copy Protection Technical Working Group (CPTWG CPTWG Copy Protection Technical Working Group (IBM, Philips, et al) CPTWG Copyright Protection Technical Working Group CPTWG Copy Protection Technology Working Group ). The CPTWG is an ad hoc For this purpose. Meaning "to this" in Latin, it refers to dealing with special situations as they occur rather than functions that are repeated on a regular basis. See ad hoc query and ad hoc mode. industry group comprised of Hollywood studios, consumer electronics manufacturers, and PC hardware and software companies. Macrovision will be the exclusive marketing/licensing agent for the combined patent portfolio. The combined solution is based upon a total of 15 issued patents which collectively serve as the foundation for a commercially viable system. The solution also includes a unique copy generation management system named MacroPlus(TM). MacroPlus enables content owners to encode their digital video programs to permit someone to make one, and only one copy on a compliant digital recording device. It does not require compliant digital recording devices to "remark" or re-encode a new watermark watermark: see paper. See digital watermark. after making the one allowed copy. Therefore, it can be implemented in a very economic fashion with the next generation digital recording devices. MacroPlus has the further advantage of being effective with the installed base of digital set-top boxes and analog VCRs. "The merging of these individually outstanding watermarking and play control technologies will create a better overall solution to serve the industry's digital-to-digital copy protection needs," said Mark Belinsky, senior vice president of Macrovision's Copy Protection Group. "We found that when we brought together the three companies' technical solutions and industry experience they were very complimentary and greatly strengthened the overall proposal." Macrovision is well known for the videocassette A removable magnetic tape module for storing video data. The cassette contains supply and takeup reel (hubs) in the same housing. See VCR. versions of its copy protection technology, which is used by every Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA MPAA abbr. Motion Picture Association of America ) studio on some or all of their analog videocassette releases. To date, over two billion videocassettes have been encoded with this technology worldwide. In addition, the company has recently seen its digital-to-analog copy protection technology adopted as the defacto standard in DVD players, and has licensed 88 DVD player and DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. ROM drive manufacturers to date. "The process to set up a watermarking and play control standard is a very arduous task and by combining our technical efforts and the copy protection technology and business expertise Macrovision brings to the table we will be able to propose a watermarking and play control standard that is acceptable to the consumer electronics, information technology, and content communities," said Gerry Wirtz, director of Philips' Copyright Office. "What's more, this system will be extremely economical to implement without compromising robustness or security." Digital watermarking plays an important role in the creation of a digital-to-digital copy protection system. A digital watermark A pattern of bits embedded into a file used to identify the source of illegal copies. For example, if a digital watermark is placed into a master copy of an audio CD or a DVD movie, then all copies of that disc are uniquely identified. is imperceptible to the naked eye and it hides in the naturally occurring variations throughout an image. A robust digital watermark technology can typically survive multiple generations of video processing Video processing techniques are used in video codecs, video players and other devices. For example—commonly only design and video processing is different in TV sets of different manufactures. , transformation between analog and digital formats, and compression. Digital watermarks are embedded into an active video stream by an encoder which analyzes each frame or other unit of video and automatically adjusts the watermark on a frame-by-frame basis. The encoder allows for user control of several levels of robustness, for the insertion of arbitrarily defined messages, inter and intra frame redundancy, and a built-in orientation signal. A detector is then deployed in hardware or software to meet real-time play and record control requirements in a wide range of digital video delivery platforms. About Philips Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies, with sales of over $39 billion in 1997. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, home telephony products, electric shavers and recorded music recorded music n → música grabada (PolyGram). Its 264,700 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of semiconductors and components, consumer products, professional products and systems, lighting, and software and services. Philips is quoted on the NYSE, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. About Digimarc Corporation Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA, Digimarc Corporation is recognized as the world leader in digital watermarking applications. The company's patented technology is used to authenticate, track, manage and enhance visual communications. More than 90 percent of professional image editing software being distributed worldwide now includes Digimarc's PictureMarc(TM) tools. The company's products are bundled with software from such OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and partners as Adobe Systems Incorporated, Corel Corporation and MICROGRAFX Inc. About Macrovision Macrovision Corporation develops and markets technologies to prevent the illicit duplication, reception or use of video and audio programs and computer software. The Company provides its products and services primarily to the home video, pay-per-view, cable, satellite, video security and consumer multimedia software markets. Macrovision has its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California with subsidiaries in London and Tokyo. All statements contained herein, as well as oral statements that may be made by the Company or by officers, directors or employees of the Company acting on the Company's behalf, that are not statements of historical fact, constitute "forward-looking statements" and are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties are outlined in the Company's Registration statement on Form S-3 and in its reports on Form 10QSB QSB Fading QSB Qualified Small Business (IRS category) QSB Queen Street Backpackers (Auckland, New Zealand) QSB Quality System Basics QSB Qualified Supplemental Benefit QSB Quantum Singleton Bound and Form 10KSB KSB Kogod School of Business (American University) KSB Kelley School of Business (Indiana University) KSB Kantonsschule Am Brühl St. . The Company is not obligated ob·li·gate tr.v. ob·li·gat·ed, ob·li·gat·ing, ob·li·gates 1. To bind, compel, or constrain by a social, legal, or moral tie. See Synonyms at force. 2. To cause to be grateful or indebted; oblige. to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release. Note to Editors: Additional background information on Macrovision Corporation can be obtained from our Web Site at http://www.macrovision.com; Philips' Web Site at http://www.philips.com; and Digimarc's Web Site at http://www.digimarc.com
CONTACT: Macrovision Corporation
Bill Krepick, 408/743-8600
bkrepick@macrovision.com
or
Philips Electronics
Marty Gordon, 408/570-5694
marty.gordon@na.km.philips.com
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