IBM and Xerox Intend to Join Forces for Intellectual Property Protection on the Internet

Business Wire, May 1, 1996

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 1996--IBM and Xerox announced today they intend to jointly develop and integrate key technologies to protect intellectual property on the Internet.

The technologies involved include IBM's Cryptolope(i) containers for securing content, and Xerox's Digital Property Rights Language (DPRL), a language for specifying the rules governing the use and pricing of content.

The two companies plan to share technologies currently under development, with the intention of working together to enhance and integrate them, and will support them in various products and services. Their focus will be on protecting digital content, controlling its use and facilitating appropriate payment to its owners.

John Kavazanjian, vice president and general manager, Network Software, for Xerox Production Systems said, "Xerox plans to provide complementary products and services to IBM's infoMarket service, which facilitate intellectual property distribution and rights management technology, extending the capabilities of the service."

IBM's Cryptolope containers are a fundamental element of the IBM infoMarket service. The Cryptolope technology provides a secure container for distribution of digital content and enables a payment mechanism through which content providers can receive payment for those works which are distributed online.

The IBM infoMarket service has created a secure environment for content providers to reach a worldwide audience of millions over the Internet. By enhancing security and rights management, this new service is providing digital publishers with the incentive to create and distribute their content electronically.

"A major inhibitor to the expansion of information commerce, as well as the availability of quality and quantity of online content, has been the lack of good rights management," said Jeff Crigler, vice president, IBM infoMarket. "By executing on our plan, we will be able to provide greater control over the use of content, thus encouraging content providers to make higher quality content available on the Internet."

Xerox's DPRL technology, created by Dr. Mark Stefik at the Palo Alto Research Center, provides the language needed by content providers to specifically designate what actions are sanctioned by end users with regard to specific intellectual property. In combination, these two technologies will afford intellectual property rights holders the means for enhancing their control over the use of their content within a network environment.

"IBM's Cryptolope technology provides the market with an important first product. By combining it with a flexible rights language, we will prepare the way for products downstream that offer far greater capabilities," stated Mark Stefik, director, Digital Property Rights Business Team.

As the Document Company, Xerox recognizes that a common rights language is a key step in creating compatible products and services which can exchange digital works securely and support the range of uses that consumers will demand.

IBM

IBM has been a pioneer in the development of the Internet. It designed special hardware and software, and provided operations support for key networks that make up today's Internet, including the Internet's primary backbone, the NSFnet. IBM also helped form Advanced Network & Services (ANS), the organization which had been responsible for managing and servicing the NSFnet from its inception until the beginning of 1995.

IBM offers hardware, software, consulting and services to help customers take advantage of the potential of the Internet. Whether addressing an individual need or creating a total enterprise solution, IBM provides the expertise required to plan, design, implement and operate an Internet solution for businesses.

To learn more about IBM's Internet activities, visit the IBM Internet home page at: http://www.internet.ibm.com or the IBM Corporation home page at http://www.ibm.com.

To learn more about Xerox activities, visit the Xerox home page at: http://www.xerox.com. -0-

Note to Editors:

(i) Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

CONTACT: IBM

Mike King, 914/766-1119

mikeking@gemini.ibm.com

or

TSI for IBM

Ellen Cooper, 212/696-2000, ext. 258

ecooper@tsipr.com

or

Xerox

Larry Vogel, 716/383-7948

lvogel@mc.xerox.com

Lois Wong, 415/812-4434

lawong@parc.xerox.com