Protection for file-shared content : File-based solutions to copyright infringement needed, says Jive Media

Toronto-based Jive Media Technologies Inc says it’s solved the dilemma of putting copyrighted material such as music videos online without relying on subscriber fees. While companies such as Napster struggle to find a way to encourage peer-to-peer file sharing without depriving content owners of rights payments, Jive says the answer is both simple and proven: free content files imbedded with paid advertising. Jive CEO Sean Mayers says the files, dubbed Portable Media File, are almost 99 per cent hack-proof to protect the advertising content from being stripped out before re-distribution. "In the final analysis, why would you want to hack it? Our files are available for free," he told Canadian NEW MEDIA. One of the key dilemmas faced by content owners is struggling to keep up with the fast changing peer-to-peer technologies. Napster is being slowly shut down, but there are others with much lower profiles – such as Hotline and the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) – that continue to be hotbeds for file-sharing. Observers are realizing that these networks will be increasingly difficult to shut down. That creates an opportunity for a company like Jive, which is using a file-based, rather than network-based, solution to combat copyright infringement. Jive’s target market is video content between two-to-15 minutes, such as music videos, short films and animated shorts. One of Jive’s first clients is newly-formed ChumCity Interactive, which is paying about $100,000 for the service over one year. The first clips from Chum should be available by the end of May. For the time being, Portable Media Files are viewable only on the Apple QuickTime Platform, but Mayers says that will be expanded to Real and Windows Media players in the near future. One of the main selling features of the software is its ability to track how many people have shared a particular file. That capability gives content owners and aggregators the information they need to collect rights payments, without violating the privacy protection of individual users. Mayer concedes, however, that some formats, such as full-length feature films on DVD won’t be part of the package since advertising alone can’t pay the costs of producing such content. Mayer says he’s also sensitive to the barrage of advertising that television viewers are experiencing these days, vowing that his service will be different. "We’re not going to inundate our audience with 50 commercials and five seconds worth of content. Rather, we’ll do the reverse. (That might mean) offering either a 30-second full-motion commercial within an entertaining video segment, or a quick five-second bumper at the start of a video entertainment package." Mayers says the company is targeting established, branded broadcasters in the first phase of its rollout, but he recognizes that the web is also populated by innumerable pure-play Internet producers. "I think the natural progression for us is first working with those branded, well-known entertainment entities in the movies, television and recording industries because they already have an established audience," he explains. "They already have some brand name recognition that makes an Internet user say, ‘yes, I’m interested in the content they supply.’ But, ultimately, we’d also like to tap into the independent content side,’ he adds. "There are a lot of talented content producers out there who are looking for new channels, a viable method to have their work represented and reach a very large and viable audience." To date, the company has been funded by Toronto-based incubator e-celerate which also provides management services to Jive. Matthew Fraser, a well-known media professor and commentator, has lent his services to the company on its advisory board, along with Rene Garcia, formerly a senior executive with MTV and Spelling Productions and now president of Wes Craven Films. The technology was originally created over several years by Trevor Trinkaus and Richard Klosa, who met at Ryerson Polytechnic University.

Protection for file-shared content : File-based solutions to copyright infringement needed, says Jive Media

Broadcast | May 3, 2001

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