DivX plots course to block pirates

Thanks to nekrosoft13 for sending in this info.

Video compression provider DivXNetworks has teamed with the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics to develop a system to protect digital video and audio from copyright violations.

Under a deal announced Wednesday, the companies said they would work together to create a digital watermark system. Watermarking technology places a unique bit of code into a video or audio file, making the file difficult to copy or play without permission from copyright holders.

Both DivXNetworks and Fraunhofer have been on the other side of the digital piracy debate. DivXNetworks created the DivX format, a video-compression technology that has long been associated with movie piracy. Fraunhofer is one of the companies behind the MP3 audio format, one of the most popular formats for creating and trading digital music files.

The partnership is part of DivXNetworks' ongoing struggle to put its bootleg history behind it and become a legal provider of video-on-demand and download services. DivXNetworks and Fraunhofer also face hurdles in creating a robust watermark technology. Last year, university researchers cracked the code to four watermarks being considered for a secure digital music standard by a cross-industry group called the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). That coalition has been slow to create a standard after disagreements over priorities between music and consumer-electronics companies.

Still, DivXNetworks and Fraunhofer are confident that they can jointly develop a digital rights management system that provides content owners with a secure means to distribute copyrighted works over the Web.

News source: ZDNet