Digimarc files third patent lawsuit

Digimarc, which specializes in the authentication of digital or analog documents, says it has filed its third patent-infringement lawsuit against Verance, a developer of digital audio watermarking technology. A digital watermark places a unique bit of code into a sound or image file to make the file difficult to copy or play without permission from copyright holders.

Digimarc said it filed its suit in the U.S. District Court of Oregon, alleging infringement of its patent for embedding a digital watermark into audio or video content. In March 2000, Digimarc filed its first lawsuit against Verance over three patents, followed by another lawsuit in September that involved another patent. Tualatin, Ore.-based Digimarc said it has 28 issued patents and at least 240 U.S. patents pending. Of the pending patents, Digimarc said, 10 have been approved by the U.S. Patent Office and are awaiting issuance within the next few months.