Invisible Watermarking of Video

NickHope wrote on 2/8/2009, 12:26 AM

Having had my footage ripped off again recently I met with an IP lawyer and almost the first question he asked was whether I had an invisible watermark embedded in my footage. In this case my visible watermark had been cropped out of the frame.

Does anyone have any experience of invisible watermarking of video? Is there a way to do it (an AVIsynth or VirtualDub filter would be nice)? Is it a good idea? Any better alternatives?

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rmack350 wrote on 2/9/2009, 9:29 AM

in this case I have simply invoiced them

Um, I suppose so. I think I'd probably have more process in it than just sending an invoice. And maybe you do.

The process would be to contact them, tell them that you charge for use of your material, that you'd be happy to let them use it for a fee, but that if they don't want to pay for it then they need to stop using it. If they agree then send a contract and an invoice.

You're right that the goal is to do business, not to pick a fight.

Rob

Coursedesign wrote on 2/9/2009, 11:28 AM

When it comes to copyright violators, you may not be able to convince the perps to pay your usual rates, because they figure you won't think they're worth the hassle of taking them to court.

So, for peanut violations (<$5,000) you can suggest taking them to small claims court, after invoices and reminders of course.

For repeat violators, you'll likely need to remind them that in addition to actual damages (your usual rates), the perps may also be on the hook for Statutory Damages of up to $150,000 per occurrence. The latter are no joke at all, and on top of that, there may potentially be also civil and/or criminal conspiracy charges, which are incredibly serious ("criminal conspiracy" is an amazingly powerful concept that has put away a lot of people who couldn't easily be tied to the actual crime, and "civil conspiracy" can be used to pierce a corporate veil sometimes, to put the individual perp on serious notice).

And finally, if they use your work for something that demeans it, you may be entitled to damages under the Lanham Act for destroying your good name.

I'm not a lawyer, so please take all of the above as just fevered, random ramblings of an unqualified individual.

On the other hand, I've spent 25 years making a living off IPR, so maybe there is some hope the random ramblings could at least point you in the right direction.

NickHope wrote on 2/9/2009, 1:44 PM

Well yes Rob, there was a bit more to it than just sending an invoice. Apparently they've already been broadcasting it for quite some time, so if they simply stopped without paying then I would feel cheated.

Thanks for the tips Coursedesign. I'm in Thailand so things are quite different but copyright infringement is a criminal offence here and I have the evidence so I'm quite confident of a successful outcome.