Disney has a vested interest in keeping pirates at bay as a major content generator. The entertainment company is participating in a number of enforcement measures since the launch of its new streaming platform (Disney+) and acquired a new anti-piracy patent on April 27, 2021.
The patent US 10,992,454 B2 intends to make it more difficult for pirates to intercept films being distributed to theaters by using a blockchain-based distribution system.
In essence, blockchain is a method of storing information in such a way that it is difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. It is a digital log of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the blockchain’s complete network of computer systems.
Considering that pirates with the correct connections can make copies during or after movies make it to theaters, the blockchain mechanism proposed by Disney may prevent unwanted prior access of unauthorized people to its intellectual property.
Several security safeguards are currently in place to prevent leaks from occurring. For example, theaters must follow specific guidelines, and all films must be watermarked. However, Disney fears that this will not be enough to deter pirates, specially because those measures are often reactive than preventative.
The company claims that the distribution process may be more closely monitored by establishing a secure blockchain-based solution. Among other things, It will make it impossible to watch a movie before it gets at its designated location, , and also keeping track of how many times a movie is shown in order to prevent bad distributors from exhibiting it more than they should.
It is important to remark Disney is not the first company to consider using blockchain to prevent piracy. On January 05, 2021, the USPTO granted to Dish Network L.L.C the patent US 10,885,159 B2, which proposes a unified anti-piracy platform to tackle copyright violations on Youtube, Facebook, Telegram, and many others.
Dish’s newly patented system addresses several shortcomings in current anti-piracy measures. It does not, for example, require copyright holders to actively search for pirated content.
There is no doubt that piracy has always been a big problem for content creators. With the advancement of streaming platforms in recent years, such companies have been investing more and more in mechanisms to protect their intellectual property, with the blockchain mechanism emerging as one of the possibilities to give control over access to content available on the internet.
Blockchain systems do have a lot of different applications and combating piracy could be one of them.
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Author: Carlos Eduardo Nelli Principe, Associate Lawyer at Peduti Advogados.
Source: Disney registra patente de blockchain para combater piratas de filmes; Disney Patents Blockchain-Based Movie Distribution System to Stop Pirates; Disney Wants to Reinforce Its ‘Piracy Intelligence’ Team
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“If you want to learn more about this topic, contact the author or the managing partner, Dr. Cesar Peduti Filho.”
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