Sony proposes a blockchain system for copyright

Japanese-based technology giant Sony looking to use blockchain technology to store digital rights data. This is coming in the time where global interest in such technology is expanding.

In a patent filling the technology company submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday, April 24, Sony observed that the system used for managing web users digital rights called the digital rights management (DRM) systems may not be reliable and is subject to failures. It cited an instance where the rights locker provider or system [where copyrights are stored] goes out of business or otherwise fails, the user loses all the acquired content.

The current DRM system limits the access to copyrighted materials only to those who purchase access. However, the new system works by first generating a user right which is then saved at the blockchain system. An enrollment request and a public key are collected from the user and verified. If the private key does not correspond to the public key the property right would not be authenticated.

According to Sony, the movie industry would be a major beneficiary of this new system that’s why the application was filed jointly by Sony and subsidiary Sony Pictures Entertainment. Although, Sony believes that this new DRM system based on the blockchain technology could be used to manage rights to "various types of content or other data, such as movies, television, video, music, audio, games, scientific data, medical data, etc."

A similar system was previously designed by Baidu One of the world’s largest search engine. Baidu’s system was called “Totem” will safeguard internet user’s digital image rights using blockchain technology.

In an announcement made on Baidu’s website, Totem uses a blockchain to insert timestamps on each uploaded copyright photograph with the user’s identity and data stored on the blockchain. Such method would make the image easily traceable and secure owing to the immutability of the blockchain technology.