YouTube to trial homebrewed video fingerprint tech

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 13 June 2007 07:03

Your IT - Home IT

YouTube is set to begin a trial of software designed to spot clips uploaded to the video-sharing site without the consent of the copyright holder.

According to reports (including Reuters, The Times, and the Wall Street Journal) Walt Disney and Time Warner will participate in the tests.

The software was developed by engineers at YouTube's parent company, Google. The idea is to be able to recognise any clip taken from a larger work.

According to the New York Times, the homebrew approach was adopted after the company determined that existing technology was not suitable. If the in-house trial is successful, YouTube's video fingerprinting will be made available to content owners later this year.

YouTube already uses audio fingerprinting technology from Audible Magic to identify music embedded in clips and either blocks the upload completely or  (where it has obtained a licence) automatically shares associated advertising revenue with the copyright holder.

Some of the copyright infringement cases brought against Google and YouTube (eg, by the English Premier League and by Viacom) allege that the companies are not doing enough to prevent the uploading of further copies of clips after copyright owners have made 'take down' requests. Video fingerprinting would help overcome such claims.