Case Studies: Piracy Deterrence

Motion Picture Awards

End User
Professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures.

Market Need
Deter piracy through tracking of pre-release movies using digital watermarking. Estimated piracy loss is $3 billion annually due to illegal distribution of committee screeners and other pre-release movies on DVD or over the internet.

Business Solution
Post production work being digitally watermarked by studios and forensically tracked; Justice Department/FBI Task Force.

Real World Experience
In 2006, a man who allegedly uploaded a copy of "Walk the Line" that was intended for a voter, faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. In 2004, a member was ordered to pay $600K and expelled from the Academy for sharing screener copies which were later pirated. Additional cases pending.

Digital Cinema Producers/Distributors

End User
Creators of digitally distributed motion picture content.

Market Need
Illegal copying is estimated to cost the movie industry more than .$4 billion per year, with camcorder recordings made by cinema goers identified as one of the most important sources of content leakage.

Business Solution
By embedding date, time and place watermarks into the picture and sound track of digitally projected movies, moviemakers are able to trace camcorder-captured copies back to the cinema in which the illegal copying took place.

Real World Experience
Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) has made forensic anti-piracy technology a mandatory requirement in its Digital Cinema System Specification.

Online Content

End User
Organization in charge of television archives.

Market Need
Dissuade users from illicitly re-using TV archives made available as online video library via the Internet.

Business Solution
Individual copies are digitally watermarked prior to download by users.

Real World Experience
Company uniquely marks each digital copy being downloaded, as part of the back office process and as a complement to the DRM used to secure the delivery of the content.