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Watermarker Digimarc Drops Suit Against SESAC

By Erik Gruenwedel, L.A.
Publication: Billboard Bulletin
Date: Tuesday, December 4 2001
Digital watermarking company Digimarc Corp. has dropped its patent-infringement suit against rights body SESAC. The suit, filed Oct. 11 in U.S. District Court for Oregon in Portland, alleged that Nashville-based SESAC violated Digimarc's copyrights when incorporating audio watermarks from rival Verance

Corp. for the development and distribution of a TV and radio broadcast monitoring system. "We filed suit against SESAC [because it] had a license agreement with Verance to use audio watermarks that we allege are our technology," says a Digimarc spokesperson. "They agreed to stop, and we dropped the suit." A SESAC spokesperson had no comment.

Digimarc and Verance remain embroiled in separate patent lawsuits against each other, with the outcome likely to decide a standardized protection code for audio CDs and DVDs (Bulletin, Nov. 20).

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