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Ending copyright infringement is a big task and there's one company on Wall Street trading for only pennies that is up for the challenge..

Written by

Alex Carlson

Published on

November 14, 2018

Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) may be just around the corner from becoming a well-known household name in the end-to-end copyright Infringement arena!Earlier this year, Spotify made headlines when it was sued for $1.6 billion for copyright infringement and months later Google lost a long-running copyright lawsuit with Oracle for multi-billions of dollars.Copyright infringement is no joke when you consider staggering sums of money like this and there are a lot more lawsuits like that floating around. From the moment something is created, whether it's a photograph, drawing or other artwork, it is automatically protected by copyright. Copyright infringement occurs when this copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the owner.The entertainment industry, in particular, has had a lot of scrutiny over a myriad of instances of copyright infringement. For example, the songwriters of Disney's famous "Let Go" song in Frozen were involved in a lawsuit over alleged copyright infringement. Also the band Vampire Weekend faced a multi-million dollar lawsuit over using an older photo of a model without permission on the front of their Contra album.Digital content on the internet is another space where copyright infringement is rampant. Stuff is constantly being stolen and reposted on websites, blogs, and other places. Under the DMCA or Digital Millennium Copyright Act, all content published online is protected under copyright law, regardless of it having the copyright symbol on the page. Unfortunately, people ignore this and thousands upon thousands of copyrighted content are being stolen each year online.Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) may soon be making a big splash on Wall Street with a revolutionary technology platform that was designed for image rights management and protection. This is a game changer that could fundamentally help to end copyright infringement!Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) has a revolutionary technology platform for image rights management and protection, which seamlessly registers, manages, and monetizes digital content for the creative community.The company protects and monetizes creative works by uniting technology with a team of copyright experts, who ensure that content providers preserve the value of their digital assets. The company's web application monitors the global Internet to seek and collect evidence for illegally used visual content, followed by the company's legal partners across North America, Europe, and Asia, who ensure that clients receive appropriate compensation for work used without a valid license.Using Artificial Intelligence, Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) streamlines image registration, management, protection, and distribution, allowing content creators to benefit from new revenue models and faster payments. This is a company trying to protect its clients by finding millions of editorial websites that use their client's photos, all while making them money!Simplified Copyright Registration with the US Copyright OfficeThe company has simplified the application process with the US Copyright Office and helps administer the registration by completing all of the correct forms with the correct information and submitting the completed forms with images for registration. Once this process is completed, the company notifies the rights owner by email that their registration has been submitted and received by the U.S. Copyright Office. This date becomes the registration date for their work. Once the registration has been approved, the US Copyright Office will physically mail the Certificate of Registration directly to them at the address they provide.IPTrack™ Global Internet Image MonitoringThe company has built a sophisticated image recognition and web crawler, which quickly and accurately searches by image and metadata to find where that image appears online. The company has experts in computer vision, pattern recognition, and machine learning. After uploading an image, the company's crawler automatically and continually crawls the Internet. The software then filters, categorizes, and gathers all relevant evidence from all websites found using client’s images. Clients mark the new findings as licensed, unauthorized or can exclude domains from further searches.Standard DMCA TakedownsAny owner of content has the right to process a takedown notice against a website owner and/or an Online Service Provider (e.g. ISP, hosting company etc.) if the content owner’s property is found online without their permission. For non-commercial infringements, the company has developed an automated system to send DMCA takedown notices directly to Online Service Providers. Once the unauthorized content has been removed the case is closed and they will receive no further notices.IPShare™ Image Replacement As an option to the Standard DMCA Takedown notice, the company has developed an interactive online image format with in-image advertising, hot links, social sharing and dynamic messaging – IPShare™. This new model allows them to sell in-image advertising, which they share a portion of the proceeds to the creator. The model works similar to the DMCA Takedown notice, but instead of requesting a removal of the content, the company asks to replace the image with their proprietary embed code image. It is a win-win for all parties, the creator enjoys revenue from converted from CPM and CPC models, and the website/blog owner enjoys the use of the image without fees or penalties.Post Usage LicensingWhen an image is matched by the company's software and verified to be unlicensed by the website owner, a post usage license is created. This gives the infringer the opportunity to purchase a proper license, rather than facing a federal copyright lawsuit. Post usage licensing fees are typically 2x the original license fee or an average of $1000. If the infringer does not accept the post-licensing fee, the case is transferred to an attorney in the country of the infringement to pursue a settlement within the courts.Real-time Image AnalyticsUsing Big Data processing of millions of IP objects with hundreds of different attributes, the company provides full-scale analysis for our registered users. The company also tracks IPShare™ impressions, click-through traffic, social media shares, and related geographic and demographic data.The world of copyright is becoming more and more unsafe for people who want to own what belongs to them. You have to fight for your rights.As Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) says on their website, "these are your rights and yours alone. Unless you willingly give them up (Ex: a Creative Commons license), no one can violate them legally."What is protected?Copyright protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works; such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyrightable works fall into the following categories:

Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works (i.e. paintings, drawings, carvings, photographs, clothing designs, textiles)
Motion pictures and other audiovisual works (i.e. movies, animation, television programs, and video games)
Literary works, including computer software, in print and digital form (i.e. all works expressed in writing)
Musical works, including any accompanying words (i.e. songs, music, spoken words, sounds, and other recordings)
Dramatic works, including any accompanying music (i.e. plays and musicals)
Pantomimes and choreographic works (i.e. dancing and pantomime)
Architectural works (i.e. buildings, blueprints, drawings, diagrams, and models)

Digital advertising is growing at a rate of 14% globally from $194 billion in 2016 to $372 billion by 2021. Content advertising itself is growing at an impressive rate of 32%, and expected to reach $50 billion in digital by 2021. There is A LOT of content on this giant internet.Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) CEO Lawrence Adams stated:

“We are leading the way into a new era of digital rights protection that is predicated on a proactive compensation model. And we have unique proprietary technology that gives us a powerful edge in this $50 billion market. This technology empowers the Celebrity, Influencer, or Brand. It allows the Rightsholder to take control of the image, protecting against infringement and generating potential ad revenue. But it also materially benefits Image Protect shareholders. The Company stands to see significantly increased revenues through monetization of in-image advertising as compared to the revenue potential achievable from a model driven by enforcement of rights through legal action against infringement."

Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) recently unveiled its state-of-the-art IPShare system in the form of a fully-interactive demonstration available on the Company’s website, www.imageprotect.com. The service is expected to launch in Q1 2019.By right-clicking and/or taking a screen grab of the image, users are guided to share the image as opposed to trying to steal it. This is a game changer in terms of images being viewed and shared across the Internet.Any instance of sharing the image will activate the rightsholder’s dashboard, allowing the true owner of the image to track it through all instances. The dashboard also provides analytics, including views and clicks throughout all instances of the image. The Dashboard acts as a control center and users have total control over the online fate of their images.As an option to the standard DMCA takedown notice, IPShare™ generates a block of code that allows photos to be copied and pasted into any website – similar to code references on sites that embed Youtube or Vimeo content. It’s as simple as copying and pasting the embed code into the user’s website template, i.e., WordPress, Blogger, SquareSpace, Wix, etc.The image is then instantly transformed into an online billboard, containing in-image advertising, hot links, social sharing and dynamic messaging. This is turning the traditional Copyright Infringement model into a cooperative relationship for both parties!Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) CEO Lawrence Adams stated:

“While this may be frustrating for those simply wanting to copy the image and use it without permission, we want you to think about it from the perspective of the image creator. The anonymous user can still make use of the image with our system. And they can do so for free. But they have to do it within the IPShare model, which passes in-image ad revenue rights back to both Image Protect and the original rights holder of the image itself. This is a win-win situation for all parties involved: the visitor gets use of the image, the rightsholder maintains rights and reaps the value-creation inherent in the image’s footprint, and Image Protect collects a substantial toll along the way.”

Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) believes the IPShare technology represents a virtually theft-proof solution against online image rights infringements by allowing rightsholders to receive financial remuneration through proliferation of the image, rather than depending on a process of after-the-fact enforcement, which is both far less dependable and far more time-consuming.The company has transitioned from an exclusive focus on the professional photography market toward an expanded focus that includes the dynamic, fast-growing social media market. Management believes this better leverages the tremendous capability of the Company's world-class image recognition technology, as it represents a push into a higher-margin segment of the market: each celebrity-focused image infringement case carries a larger recovery fee structure due to its widely distributed nature.Social media is a colossal arena with celebrities making millions posting on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. These celebrities need to protect their online identities and social media images from illicit infringement or defamation.The market is robust and since copyright laws have little changed in the last twenty years, it is imperative for people to protect themselves.This is a niche category that not too many companies are trying to tackle which could put the spotlight on Image Protect, Inc. (OTC: IMTL) very fast!