Archive for June, 2007

This past week gave piracy a high relief example of exactly what USVO and the SmartMark product is all about. Michael Moore, renown for his documentary films and controversies, has a new release coming out June 29- “Sicko”. Regardless of where you stand on the man, the films, the issues, or his style of presenting them, “Sicko” is of tremendous interest as it stands today as a shining example of what SmartMarks could do for the Weinstein Company if they had used the technology.

While “Sicko” is not even the Weinstein’s biggest release at the moment (that would be the thriller “1408″ starring John Cusack for all you women who like scary movies) , it is the project causing the most heartache, in that wallet sort of way. The $9 million investment by the Weinsteins has been posted widely on the internet a full ten days before its theatrical premier. Here is one such posting on Tony Pierce’s Blog. As stated on AdAge.com by “Claude Brodesser-Akner “ Mr. Moore and his distributor, Weinstein Co., have every film maker’s worst marketing nightmare on their hands — how to persuade people to go to the theater to see a show that’s available free on the Internet.”

Had the Weinstein Company insisted that every copy of the project been SmartMarked, today the individual(s) that is responsible for the unauthorized release and showing of the film would be charged and the proof required to prosecute them in hand.

Unfortunately, like most human behaviors, it requires some sort of painful loss to take the preventative steps. The Weinstein Company, like hundreds of other production and distribution entities, have been solicited by USVO over the last two years to have their standard definition elements SmartMarked for FREE, through our affiliate Lightning Media, in Hollywood. That’s right - free.

Today, for Michael Moore and The Weinstein Company, the pain won’t be clear until the Monday after the opening weekend. The numbers, whatever they are, and I would expect them to be among the highest ever for any documentary, will still be something less than what might have been. More importantly, there won’t be even the satisfaction of knowing that they are getting justice, because the likelihood that the people responsible will be held accountable is low.

We want the opportunity to prove the efficacy of this approach. Any producer with a distribution deal that would like to apply this technique will have to adapt their operation a bit- it does require a bit of time and intent to SmartMark. But they will have the weapons they need to take the thief down, and strike a blow for filmmakers and distributors.

While it has been too long since I posted here, I want to let you know that the noses are still at the grindstones, as mentioned before. Full attention is being paid, not just to the work at hand, but also to the developments in the wider world of interest to all of us at USVO, and the watermarking space.

You can see how the world is watching. The MPAA is talking up the fingerprinting technologies that are hoped to be the filtering solution to online uploading of content. Naturally there are folks jumping right on the most recent test to prove it isn’t all that.

It is important to recognize the difference between what is being attempted there - gate keeping at a public commons- and what USVO is executing - creating an evidence trail for prosecution. Viacom is suing Google for having Viacom copyrighted material on its video sharing site YouTube. Having a technology that will flag and notify the owner of copyrighted material that their material is now on a public and open channel is hoped to satisfy the studios, is what the filtering effort is about. It will not address the larger issues of theft of copyrighted motion pictures.

Just today Daniel Glickman of the MPAA testified to the Congressional Finance committee regarding the value of this product to the US economy- $25.8 Billion global income in 2006.

That is what USVO is about. And what is keeping us busy. While the time flies, the worker bees in the smart hive are cranking out some SmartMark honey. I look forward to being able to tell you more about it.