Fast and easy access to vast amounts of digital data via the Internet has changed and is still changing our society. A considerable portion of this data is copyrighted material. Illegal distribution of copyrighted material over the Internet is one of the great challenges content providers face. For the protection of copyrighted digital data new methods have been and are developed. One of these techniques is digital watermarking. The objective of watermarking techniques is to imperceivably and inseparably embed information in media that carries copyright information.

Digital watermarking has been studied since 1994 at the Security Technology for Graphics and Communication Systems department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics. Our initial focus has been on digital images. Development in this area is ongoing, but we have extended the watermarking concept to a number of additional multimedia formats. Currently, we offer watermarking technology and consulting for audio, images, video, music scores, 3D models, 2D cartographic maps. The quickbar leads to descriptions of these individual techniques.

We appreciate your feedback, we answer questions on our technology, and if you have scientific, educational, or commercial interests in digital watermarking and its applications then we would like to hear from you. Please contact the principal scientists of the respective technological areas, or for general questions contact:

Alexander Nouak
Dept. Security Technology
Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics
Fraunhoferstr. 5, D-64283 Darmstadt, Germany
alexander.nouakigd.fraunhofer.de