Movie Studios to use Digital Watermarking

In an effort to curb piracy of first run films, Hollywood is looking to digital watermarking technology.

Digimarc Corp has announced that their digital watermarking system has been used as part of the Digital Cinema System Specification that Hollywood has adapted.  The initiatives are meant to crack down on piracy of movies shown on the emerging digital theaters around the world.

The watermarking process is applied to both the video and audio stream of a movie.  Once in place, leaks can be identified in the distribution chain.  The tool helps identify the theater, location, production version, and date and time that a film is supposed to be shown.

The digital watermarks have been designed to survive digital-to-analog conversion such as copying onto VHS tape.  The MPAA hopes to cut down on copies made by illegal recordings of movies via hand-held video cameras, which it estimates costs the industry $3 billion a year.