British Company Encourages More Professional Pictures on the World Wide Web

15 April 1998

Signum Technologies who are based at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire have developed a sophisticated algorithm which will allow improved detection of fingerprints in images published on the Web.

Signum Technologies Limited are at the forefront of digital fingerprinting technology with a product called SureSign which allows a photograph or image to have a unique code embedded into it.

Alan Bartlett, Marketing Manager for the company said: "Our latest software incorporates a new and sophisticated algorithm. This will radically improve detection of fingerprints in images on the Web. As a result thousands more photographs are likely to be placed on the Internet by professional photographers with the knowledge that their images can be tracked and their copyright protected".

The company have also developed software which will allow a user to place a visible watermark or logo into the image.

The new software is an upgraded version of SureSign Writer, a Photoshop plug-in for applying fingerprint protection to digital images. A complimentary fingerprint detector tool is also included. The optional user-definable visible watermark feature will allow users to overlay their own logo (or a copyright symbol) onto an image. Users can select the position, density and size of a visible logo/watermark.

To help users record details of all image files fingerprinted, SureSign Writer 3.0 now includes a daily log-file recording function. This will be of especial benefit to those users who take out copyright pursuit insurance, such as NMS CoPs, where accurate record keeping is a condition of these policies.

Signum recently joined with New Mexico Software to launch the first such insurance package for image professionals, NMS CoPs, which includes fingerprint software and insurance put together by Lloyds brokers CE Heath.

The key features of the new SureSign Writer and Detector 3.0 suite, are:

• new algorithm for Web images
• optional user-definable visible logo/watermark
• faster writing and detection
• more robust (after resizing, manipulation and editing) for improved detection
• utilises Photoshop 4.0 plug-in features (e.g. copyright symbol in header ribbon, hot links, etc)
• backward compatible Detector (with images fingerprinted with earlier versions of SureSign)
• available for both Macs and Pcs

Potential users may download a demonstration version of SureSign Writer 3.0, for Mac or PC, from the Signum Web site. Users who then decide to license the software need only contact Signum to obtain a special unlocking code and their unique user ID.

As with the previous version, individual users can install the writer software and fingerprint as many images as they wish for just £39 (or $60) a year - corporate user licenses are also available and cost only £495 (or $795) per annum.

For further information please contact :

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SureSign, SureSign Writer, SureSign Detector, SureSign Server are trademarks of Signum Technologies Ltd. Any products names mentioned in this press information are trademarks of their respective holders.

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