Web content DNA Map: Copyright control, monetization online

Can it be mapped, tracked and appropriately monetized?

Jim Brock believes so, and so does the company he founded, Attributor.

Brock, Attributor co-founder and CEO, addressed the Magazine Publishers of America in New York City last week on how to “generate revenue and maintain control of your content as you release it online.”

Can it be done? I met with Brock to find out how Attributor aims to “legitimize content monetization.”

Attributor is a $10 million VC backed start-up addressing “content originality online.” Currently in “stealth-mode,” Brock told me he is readying a launch of an Attributor beta service.

Attributor’s technology analyzes publishers’ original content published to the Web--text, images, audio, video--with the goal of providing "visibility” as to if, when and how it is subsequently re-used by third-parties online.

Brock told me Attributor conducts 40 million Web crawls a day to monitor the activity of Attributor digitally fingerprinted content at targeted news sites, blogs, entertainment sites, social networks…

If content reuse is identified, “rules of use” specified by content owners trigger match reports prioritizing remediation actions at the “offending” site, such as requests for licensing, replacement, or removal of the proprietary content.

The Attributor system:

1) Attributor digitally fingerprints pieces of individual content with “Attributor DNA” for unique feature identification,

2) Content owners assign rules of use to be associated with the unique “Attributor DNA”, such as how much can be re-used, required attribution and commercial exploitation terms,

3) Attributor scans the Web to identify unauthorized uses of “Attributor DNA” and automatically develops plans for remedial action, such as content removal or licensing requests.

4) Content owners have direct access to “Attributor DNA” status for monitoring and control.

Legitimate syndication and monetization of copyright content is the end game, Brock says. Attributor aims to “empower publishers of all kinds to understand and unlock the value of their content” and support a “vibrant content economy through transparency and accountability in content re-use.”

The Attributor pitch to content owners is:

We make it easy for potential licensees, search engines, and content hosts to know that you’re the owner of your content, which allows you to distribute your content more freely with assurance that you can capture the value you create

Attributor initiatives for content owners will include both a no-fee searchable public registry and for-fee custom monitoring services, Brock told me.

We are in “the early days of a global content economy,” Brock believes. Attributor was founded to “provide the transparency and accountability necessary for this new marketplace to achieve its full potential,” he proudly notes.

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