Eyealike tackles video copyright problem

Eyealike, which developed software for facial recognition and image detection, is tackling the video copyright infringement problem. Eyealike Copyright creates digital fingerprints, consisting of visual cues from motion, faces, histograms and colors. The fingerprints are based a set of key frames, which are algorithmically chosen, according to CTO Imad Zoghlami.

Videos from services such as YouTube are then compared to the fingerprints at less than a millisecond per video, Zoghlami said. The software overcomes most noise artifacts users manipulating content, such as cropping or shooting a movie off a screen with a camcorder, he added.

An annual license for Eyealike Copyright will be priced between $500,000 and $1 million. An fee per clip for files that are in copyright violation or a portion of the royalties is also part of the pricing model, said Greg Heuss, president of the company.

Currently, Eyealike is in discussion with major video content providers. If it works as advertised, Eyealike will be a lot cheaper than hiring dozens of lawyers to deal with the legal challenges.