DRM and IPM - What is the difference?

For many managers who have been asked to look into the need for managing rights and enforcing usage limitations on digital files the broad meaning of the term Digital Rights Management (DRM) is confusing.

There is no true rule but I have found the following distinction between DRM and Intellectual Property Management (IPM) very useful. DRM in this case would describe those technologies that enforce consumer facing usage limitations or those that track the usage of content with the goal to monitor the usage of digital content by consumers or business partners.

IPM describes a set of technologies that manage the contractually agreed rights owned or granted to content.

Both technologies are closely linked to DAM and for media companies as well as for large marketing organizations this integration is becoming a critical business need.

DRM

True rights enforcement is a multi-step process in which files have to be encoded and some kind of authentication needs to occur that informs the system that a consumer has the rights to view, copy or alter the content. Only after the authentication will a user then be allowed to do what his or her license allows him or her to do. In that kind of DRM the system needs to control a few things very tightly: The file format (decryption etc), the player that will play the content and the authentication process.

Microsoft has developed a DRM Package for Video and Audio content . This Widows Media based solution is fairly simple to implement and presents an easy solution for Video and Audio usage rights enforcement. Enforceable limitations include number of plays, duration of usage, number of copies etc. Use this Link to their official web site. Companies like thePlatform make the use of the Windows Media DRM package a breeze and also include media player design and delivery networks integration.

The obvious limitation here is that Windows Media file format may not work well in all applicable situations, specifically for mobile users. In addition users need to be connected to the Internet not only to obtain the digital file but also to authenticate themselves with the Microsoft license server.

There are a number of vendors in the mobile DRM space that offer solutions for Mobile Network operators to enforce certain usage limitations. ABI has a good research paper for this market segment and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) web site has a listing of all vendors and many more good links and information.

A good link to many good articles about DRM is also DRM Watch

Tracking and Monitoring
For images DRM can be tricky. Users have come to expect the ability to open images in a number of applications. To restrict users to a specific viewer application that can enforce rights as in the above examples will present a big adoption hurdle.

However, Digimarc , a pioneer in watermarking and tracking of digital images has a set of great tools and solutions for monitoring the use of digital images on the web. The idea here is to embed a Unique ID, also called a forensic watermark, in the file and to track this ID on the web to monitor legal usage of the content and detect possible infringing uses. This approach is also possible for video assets. Philips and Thomson are the leading product vendors in in this area.

IPM

IPM describes a set of technologies that manage the contractually agreed rights owned or granted to content. This is also referred to as rights-in and rights-out. The IPM vendors will often sell each module separately. At the core of IPM is the mapping of complex contractual agreements into a database that in turn allows much better management and monitoring as well as reporting on patterns and rights avails (Which content is still available for exploitation in what way?)

In the IPM space SAP has a solution for Media Companies (download a PDF from this site) but many broadcasters and media companies have chosen smaller players like

• Sophoi (backed by Oracle and used mostly in Motion Picture Studios)
• Jaguar
• Rights Logic
• Asset House ( A UK based company focused also on IPM for Communication Service Providers)

I hope this short summary will help clear up some of the confusion surrounding DRM. Please feel free to mention other sources of information or key vendors in the comments section.