Another Digimarc Patent Validated in Re-Examination; U.S. Patent Office Concludes Re-Examination of Third Patent Related to Verance Lawsuit, Expanding Number of Patent Claims

Business Wire, May 15, 2002

Business Editors

TUALATIN, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2002

Digimarc Corp. (Nasdaq:DMRC), the leader in digital watermarking solutions, announced today that the U.S. Patent Office re-examination of Patent Number 5,850,481 has concluded with an award of 45 patent claims to Digimarc -- an increase of 8 claims over the 37 included in the patent as originally issued.

"This Patent Office action concludes the third patent re-examination out of four related to Digimarc's pending patent infringement litigation against Verance Corporation," said Bill Conwell, Digimarc's vice president of intellectual property. "For a third time, re-examination has concluded with an expansion of the number of claims infringed by Verance."

Patent Numbers 5,636,292; 5,832,119; and 5,850,481 have now been confirmed in Digimarc's favor. Re-examination of the fourth patent is continuing.

About Digimarc

Digimarc Corp. (Nasdaq:DMRC), based in Tualatin, Ore., is the leading provider of digital watermarking components and technologies used in a wide range of security, identification and brand protection applications.

Digimarc ID Systems LLC, based in Bedford, Mass., and a wholly owned subsidiary of Digimarc, is a leading global provider of secure and durable personal identification solutions, and is the leading producer of drivers licenses in the U.S., providing systems and services to 36 states. Internationally, Digimarc ID Systems produces identification documents for governments around the world.

Digimarc has an extensive intellectual property portfolio, with 60 issued U.S. patents with more than 1,000 claims, and more than 300 pending applications for U.S. patents, in digital watermarking, personal identification and related technologies. Please go to www.digimarc.com for more company information.

Securities Safe Harbor

With the exception of historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain certain "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current reasonable expectations and are subject to certain assumptions, risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied from the statements herein or from historical results, due to changes in economic, business, competitive, technological and/or regulatory factors. More detailed information about these factors is set forth in filings by Digimarc with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent annual report on Form 10-K and the most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Digimarc is not obligated to (and expressly disclaims any obligation to) revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances, whether they arise as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.