After several high-profile copyright disputes, including a lawsuit by Viacom, Inc. and a subpoena from 20th Century Fox for the unauthorized use of copyrighted material, YouTube will begin testing a new "video fingerprinting tool" that will enable the online video website to identify content that has been uploaded without the copyright owner's consent. This new technology, which has been developed by engineers at Google, Inc., will be tested in partnership with Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co. Copyright owners would first be required to submit copies of their works to be cataloged by the program. The technology examines the video by analyzing it frame-by-frame and establishes a pattern and relationship among the frames that is specific to that video. The result is the "digital fingerprint," which can then be used to search for videos with matching content that have been posted on YouTube by other users. If a match is found, the registered copyright owner is advised and can determine whether the posting is unauthorized.
The technology is expected to recognize the copyrighted material even if it has been "disguised" with other material, because the tool is designed to analyze the whole video and to recognize catalogued content. If proven to work, the technology will allow media companies to identify whether their copyrighted works have been uploaded, letting the registered content owners determine whether or not they wish to have the content removed. If the testing is successful, YouTube plans to launch its new "video fingerprinting tool" later this year.
Vol. 53, June 2010