Understanding Digital Demand Explosion - PicScout

by picscout - http://www.picscout.com PicScout, the information company that leverages fingerprinting and image recognition technology, offers image creators and suppliers a convenient way to connect up with image users anywhere online. Thanks to the Internet and new digital devices, user consumption of digital content has increased exponentially. PicScout serves as the growth engine for the awakening picture market. For more information, visit http://www.picscout.com.

>> Keep Reading: Full Post and Comments

PicScout applauds Google for its Similar Images Search

What a thrill it is to see Google's recent announcement of its new "similar image" search! One couldn't ask for better publicity. Free, too! First, it further validates the huge interest people have in finding and using images online, either for personal or business uses. When people search for images, they are most likely looking to use them for some purpose that very well may require licensing. If Google is helping people do that faster, all the better!

While Picscout has been a leading innovator in image-recognition technology, its business is not to help people find images. It's to help them manage their copyrights. If you're thinking that you could use Google's new image-search to do that on your own, consider these points:

FINDING YOUR IMAGES
* First you have to get Google image search to come up with one of your images in a search (not as easy as it looks), before you can even start with a "similar" search. And then your luck goes downhill faster. As reported by Plagiarism Today (http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2009/04/24/google-similar-images-poor-copy-detection/trackback), the search isn't really all that good. But, that's almost beside the point. Even if it were perfect at finding exact matches, you have to do this for every image you own, one by one. Do you really have that much time on your hands?
* Picscout tracks entire collections of works... Every day.

FINDING "RELEVANT" USAGES
* Do you know the difference between a "relevant" use of your images and a big waste of time?
* Picscout does. And we deliver detailed reports that include the name of the company, a screenshot of the web page that used your image, contact information, and more.

RESOLUTIONS
* Do you know what to do if you find a match? Most people have no expertise or wherewithal to resolve usage disputes. If you try to contact the company yourself, chances are that you'll be either ignored or treated poorly. And you'll discover this only after weeks or months of trying.
* Picscout works with a select network of specially qualified copyright lawyers that can not only handle your case professionally with the other party, saving you valuable time, but also come up with a satisfactory resolution that doesn't alienate business relationships.

Sure, there are ways to "find" your images, ranging from dumb luck to brute force searching. But that doesn't mean a whole lot if nothing is happening. In the end, Picscout is far more than just a great image-recognition tech company. We provide full-service solutions that actually return results.

>> Keep Reading: Full Post and Comments

PicScout Announces Their First New Customer for 2009

San Francisco (CA / USA), 5 FEBRUARY 2009 - PicScout announced their first new customer for 2009, NordicPhotos of Stockholm, Sweden. NordicPhotos is an online photo agency that sells rights based photography from the Nordic countries: Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

In order to protect their digital images, the group chose to use PicScout’s Image Tracker ™ Solution, the leading solution for image tracking and monitoring images in various media.

PicScout is currently responsible for detecting over 90% of all online image infringements detection worldwide and is active in a growing list of territories all over the globe. Image Tracker ™ technology monitors commercial internet sites to report back our clients’ data analytics about their images.

Arnaldur Gauti Johnson, Managing Director of NordicPhotos, stated, “PicScout has a wonderful technology for stock image collections like ours, and we appreciate how much time and effort we save by receiving the Image Tracker reports”. Offir Gutelzon, CEO of PicScout, added,” We are happy to add NordicPhotos, one of the largest stock photography groups in the Nordic countries, to our family of satisfied customers. We have recently added several new features to our technology and solutions to provide customers such as NordicPhotos with tools to increase their revenues and their ability to protect their images.”

Source: CEPIC

>> Keep Reading: Full Post and Comments

Jeff Downey Joins PicScout to Head up Sales and Business Development

San Francisco (CA, USA), JANUARY 2009 - Jeff Downey, a 20 year veteran of the photo industry, has joined the PicScout team as the Director of Sales and Business Development.

Mr. Downey has previously worked with image libraries, effectively moving them from analog to digital and developing e-commerce opportunities for businesses. His experience spans startup companies as well as market leaders such as Getty Images where he spent the last nine years streamlining operations and creating effective sales practices and tools. A native of the Chicago suburbs, he holds a Master of Science in Communication Systems, Strategies and Management from Northwestern University in Evanston IL. Throughout his career he has spoken on numerous panels focusing on changes and challenges within the photo industry.

Offir Gutelzon, CEO of PicScout, sees Mr. Downey’s industry experience and sales expertise playing a major role in the future success of the company. “Jeff’s deep understanding of the Photo Industry will benefit our customers and partners and will open up new sources of revenue with the major players in our industry. PicScout is lucky to have him as a part of the team.”

PicScout Ltd. specializes in technology enabled services to improve business of both visual assets owners and users. Founded in 2002, PicScout has offices in San Francisco, CA; Chicago, Il and Herzelia, ISRAEL.

More information on: www.picscout.com and http://blog.picscout.com/

>> Keep Reading: Full Post and Comments

PicScout continues to guard visual content copyright

Herzeliya (ISRAEL), 3rd October 2008 - PicScout announced today their contract renewal for continued content monitoring with Getty Images, the world’s leading creator and supplier of visual content. According to the contract, PicScout will remain the exclusive visual tracking service provider for detecting Getty Images’ copyright infringement cases. The partnership began in early 2005 and has had a significant impact on copyright protection within the global stock photography industry. As some imagery continues to be used online without proper licensing, the renewal signals a persistent and assured route to safeguard the value of their assets for content creators, owners and users.

PicScout’s Image Tracker™ monitoring activities began for the North American markets, while quickly expanding to European and now East Asian countries. It currently monitors millions of images from the world’s most prestigious collections, such as Getty Images, helping asset owners recover fees from unauthorized users, track the usage and provide valuable data.

“Getty Images is committed to enforcing copyright laws and ensuring that our photographers and image contributors are compensated for their work. We have been evaluating technologies to make this process more efficient and effective and we believe that PicScout offers a highly scalable and comprehensive solution,’’ said Jeff Dunn, chief financial officer and senior vice president.
“Being a market leader, we are continuously searching to address the market needs” said Offir Gutelzon, PicScout Co-CEO. “While tracking millions of images for the most prestigious stock agencies, using PicScout’s Image Tracker ™ solution, we are persistently working on innovative solution using our image recognition platform for other vertical markets.”

Source: CEPIC

>> Keep Reading: Full Post and Comments