Digimarc Licenses Image-based Print Encoding Platform to Top German Printer
BEAVERTON, OR—Dec. 15, 2010—Digimarc Corp. has licensed the Digimarc Discover platform to German-based Westdeutsche Verlags und Druckerei GmbH. The agreement lets Westdeutsche deliver new, Digimarc-enabled solutions that connect print readers to a range of rich media experiences such as viewing a video, purchasing a product, launching an application, and more from printed articles and advertisements using the Digimarc Discover mobile application.
Unique to the Digimarc Discover platform is its ability to use various content identification technologies as needed, including the company’s patented digital watermarking technology. Digital watermarks are easily embedded into all forms of media and are imperceptible to human senses, but quickly detected by computers, networks or other digital devices like mobile phones. Using a watermarking solution, publishers do not have to give up valuable space on the printed page or on product packaging; nor does it impact the overall layout or aesthetics of the publication.
“We evaluated a number of technologies before selecting the Digimarc Discover platform because it provides a superior user experience. The publishers we work with like how digital watermarking does not force them to change their page layouts or design, unlike 2D barcodes and QR codes,” stated Ulrich Türk, CEO, Westdeutsche Verlags und Druckerei GmbH.
“Working with Digimarc, we believe we are helping to transform the publishing industry by providing enhanced content from articles, while also providing a significant advantage to advertisers who can now initiate a two-way interaction and increased engagement with targeted consumers,” asserted Türk.
Westdeutsche Verlags und Druckerei GmbH prints 70 magazines, 35 newspapers, and a range of advertisements and free standing inserts for its customers. The company will offer its Print2Web mobile solution, based on the Digimarc Discover platform, to these publishers as a value-added service that allows them to bring together print, Web and mobile initiatives in a way that gives readers access to the content they want on the device they have with them 24/7—their mobile phone.
“The technology effectively turns newspapers, magazines and other printed materials into Web browsers, providing instant access to the information, assistance and entertainment readers want by efficiently connecting them to a range of network services,” commented Jeri Owen, vice president, marketing, Digimarc.
“Publications can now offer brands the opportunity to complete an entire sales cycle in one user session—taking the reader from seeing an advertisement, to product reviews, to receiving discounts and promos, all the way to purchasing the product on the phone,” Owen added.
Westdeutsche joins aquaMobile in Spain and Card e-Motion in Austria as Digimarc’s third marketing partner in Europe. Card e-Motion began using Digimarc-enabled solutions in October in magazines distributed by Volkswagen within Germany and aquaMobile offers its Clic2C solution throughout Europe and currently has more than a dozen deployments with magazines and newspapers.
About Digimarc
Digimarc Corp. (NASDAQ:DMRC), based in Beaverton, Oregon, is a leading innovator and provider of enabling technologies that create digital identities for all forms of media and many everyday objects. The embedded digital IDs are imperceptible to humans, but not to computers, networks and devices like mobile phones, which can now use cameras and microphones as sensory inputs to “see, hear and understand” the world around them within the context of their environment.
Digimarc has built an extensive intellectual property portfolio with patents in digital watermarking, content identification and management, media and object discovery to enable ubiquitous computing, and related technologies. Digimarc develops solutions, licenses its intellectual property, and provides development services to business partners across a range of industries. For more information, please visit www.digimarc.com.
Source: Company press release.
