US 6,614,914 · Granted 2003-09-02

The Digital Watermark Patent That Lets Companies Track Pirated Content

Imagine invisible ink that you can embed into photos, videos, or songs—a hidden message that stays there even if someone tries to copy or corrupt the file. This patent describes a system that can hide, find, and read those invisible digital watermarks, letting companies prove they own the content and catch people who steal it.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a complete watermarking system with three parts: an embedder that hides a watermark signal inside images, video, audio, or other media; a detector that searches for and locates that hidden watermark even if the file has been damaged or altered; and a reader that extracts the hidden message using information about the watermark's orientation. What's protected here is the entire process of embedding, detecting, and reading digital watermarks across multiple types of media.

Why it matters

Watermarking became crucial as digital content distribution exploded in the 2000s. By hiding ownership information inside the actual file itself—rather than just in metadata—companies gained a way to track illegal copies, prove ownership, and link content back to its source even after copying or format conversion. This patent, filed by Digimarc, covers foundational technology that the media and entertainment industries would rely on to combat piracy and manage digital rights.

Real-world use

When a movie studio distributes a film online, watermarks embedded in the video let them track which illegal copies came from which leak, identifying when and where the piracy began.

Original USPTO abstract

A watermark system includes an embedder, detector, and reader. The watermark embedder encodes a watermark signal in a host signal to create a combined signal. The detector looks for the watermark signal in a potentially corrupted version of the combined signal, and computes its orientation. Finally, a reader extracts a message in the watermark signal from the combined signal using the orientation to approximate the original state of the combined signal. While adapted for images, video and audio, the watermark system applies to other electronic and physical media. For example, it can be applied to mark graphical models, blank paper, film and other substrates, texturing objects for ID purposes, etc.

Patent details

Publication number: US 6,614,914
Filing date: 2000-02-14
Grant date: 2003-09-02
Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
Inventor(s): RHOADS GEOFFREY B., GUSTAFSON AMMON E.
CPC class: G06T1/0071

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