Free Offering Works in Conjunction with Desktop Search Products from Google, MSN, and Yahoo! to Quickly and More Effectively Find Pictures Stored on PCs
BEAVERTON, Ore., May 25, 2005. Digimarc Corporation (Nasdaq:DMRCE - News) today announced the public beta of Digimarc Image Search, an innovative desktop search tool designed for the rapidly growing digital photography market.
The free tool, downloadable from Digimarc's website at www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc/imagesearch, works in conjunction with popular desktop search tools such as Google Desktop Search, MSN Desktop Search, and Yahoo! Desktop Search, enhancing the image search capabilities of these tools. Current desktop search tools have limited image search capabilities, typically looking for the file name in the header of an image, which can be easily changed or forgotten. Most professional and many consumer photographs are distributed today in digital form with an extensive array of associated information or "metadata" carried within the image files. Digimarc Image Search works with and extends existing desktop search tools by enabling users to:
* more quickly and effectively find images stored on a computer
based on such information or "metadata" embedded into digital images,
including keywords, copyright information and digital rights data; and
* identify image copyright holders and facilitate image licensing
by accessing Internet services, where available, that connect to an
image owner's website or Digimarc's image registry, which is available
to users of Digimarc MyPictureMarc and ImageBridge digital watermarking
software.
This beta release supports web updates for images from the Corbis stock photography library and for all other images that use Digimarc digital watermarking products.
"With the release of the Image Search tool, Digimarc once again leads the industry by harnessing cutting-edge technology for use by imaging professionals and amateurs alike," said Jeff Sedlik, past president of the Advertising Photographers of America and professional photographer. "Digimarc Image Search provides photographers and their clients everywhere with a powerful tool for finding and managing the pictures they need, when they need them."
According to a report by Lyra Research featured in Photo Marketing Magazine, more than 80 billion digital photographs were estimated to have been taken in 2004. In 2005, IDC predicts that the number of digital images captured, shared and printed will grow by 35%.
"Given this increasing volume of digital photos, consumers and professionals alike face the growing challenge of finding and organizing the images on their PCs and office networks," said J. Scott Carr, president, Digimarc Watermarking Solutions. "Our new image search tool extends the power and features of desktop search offerings from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!, enabling them to find images more effectively using metadata and watermark information."
Digital photography is often digitally watermarked by its owners using Digimarc software for a variety of purposes, including copyright protection, facilitation of licensing, and the monitoring of Internet marketing programs. The Digimarc software enables users to embed an imperceptible digital watermark that identifies the image's owner and registers that image in the Digimarc online registry. For images with embedded digital watermarks, Digimarc Image Search can retrieve current and dynamic information about the pictures from Internet resources; for example, identification of the owner of rights to facilitate licensing or additional keywords to improve search results. More information on Digimarc digital imaging products can be found at: www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc.
Availability
Digimarc Image Search Beta is available now as a free download at www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc/imagesearch.
About Digimarc
Digimarc Corporation (Nasdaq:DMRCE - News), based in Beaverton, Oregon, is a leading supplier of secure media solutions used in a wide range of security, identification and digital media content applications.
Digimarc provides products and services that enable the production of more than 60 million personal identification documents, including two-thirds of U.S. driver licenses and IDs for more than 20 countries. Digimarc's digital watermarking technology provides a persistent digital identity for various media content and is used to enhance the security of financial documents, identity documents and digital images, and support other media rights management applications.
Digimarc has an extensive intellectual property portfolio, with 192 issued U.S. patents with more than 4,000 claims, and more than 400 pending patent applications in digital watermarking, personal identification and related technologies.
The Company is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, with other U.S. offices in Burlington, Massachusetts, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the Washington, DC, area, and international offices in London and Mexico. Please go to www.digimarc.com for more Company information.
Securities Safe Harbor
With the exception of historical information contained in this release,
the matters described herein contain certain "forward-looking
statements" that are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements include statements relating to the expected
benefits of the use or the integration of Digimarc Image Search by or
with Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Corbis or other users, and other statements
containing the words "believes," "expects," "estimates," "anticipates,"
"will" or words of similar import or statements of management's
opinion. These statements are based on management's current reasonable
expectations and are subject to certain assumptions, risks,
uncertainties and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary
materially from those expressed or implied from the statements herein
or from historical results, due to changes in economic, business,
competitive, technological and/or regulatory factors. More detailed
information about these factors is set forth in filings by Digimarc
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent
annual report on Form 10-K and the most recent quarterly report on Form
10-Q. Digimarc is not obligated to (and expressly disclaims any
obligation to) revise or update any forward-looking statements in order
to reflect events or circumstances, whether they arise as a result of
new information, future events, or otherwise.
Contact:
Digimarc Public Relations
Leslie Constans, 503-469-4620
lconstans@digimarc.com
or
Revolution PR for Digimarc
Mizuha Nakajima, 503-997-6045
mizuha@revolutionpr.com
