PA News Reports PA News Reports
by Simon Watkins (City Staff)
A trio of companies from New Mexico, London and Cheltenham have launched a technology and insurance package which they claim could bring picture copyright rows to an end.
The package is based on image fingerprinting by which a secret code is written invisibly into a picture - a photograph, illustration or design.
The print is unique and although it cannot be seen with the naked eye, it can be recognised by electronic equipment or computer software.
Cheltenham company Signum devised the software which has been in use by a number of companies concerned about picture copyright for the last year. Current customers include the BBC.
The system could also be applied to banknotes, writing an invisible code in the notes and making the forgers task almost impossible. Banknote printers are thought to be investigating the technology.
In the latest move Signum has clinched a deal with US company New Mexico Software and Lloyd's insurance underwriters Beazley under which companies or individuals who use the new fingerprint technology can subscribe to an insurance policy which would allow them to claim against infringement of copyright by people who steal their pictures.
The technology is expected to find its fastest growing market on the Internet making it safer for companies to publish photography or artwork on the net, where it is all too easy for copyright pirates to download the images and use their own business.
Alan Bartlett, marketing manager at Signum, said : "Technology has met the insurance market. As a start it means people can start to believe in the web as a safe place to publish their pictures".
Hinting of future uses for the technology, Mr Bartlett suggested that the proposed photo driving licences would be an ideal place to apply image fingerprinting.
This article first appeared in "PA News Service", 5 March 1998 and is reproduced by kind permission of The Press Association, London.