ANTI-PIRACY SOLUTION

U-Tech, RiRF, and IPICO Will Embed RFID Chips For Optical Disc Piracy

Partner firms announce new Optical Disc Authentication solution to optimize logistics control and mitigate piracy loopholes worldwide. U-Tech, a subsidiary of Ritek Group, and its partners RiRF Technologies Corporation, and IPICO Inc. unveil the world's first Chip-on-Disc (COD) system to identify and authenticate optical discs by embedding an RFID tag into a DVD or other optical disc. This new "COD" technology authenticates a disc for its true origin and tracks its movement throughout its lifecycle from the supply chain to the consumer. It acts as an anti-piracy device and can prevent an illegal copy from being played on a suitably equipped DVD player. The COD system is powered by IPICO's IP-XTM UHF RFID technology and is slated to undergo a series of pilots before being implemented by U-Tech, a global leader in the production of content discs and supplier to major movie studios and music companies worldwide.

The COD concept combines conventional RFID-based logistics tracking with security measures. It was conceived by Chairman Yeh, Ritek founder.

"I've envisioned using RFID to improve product visibility and enhance security in the optical disc industry for some time," remarks Yeh. "Launching the COD system has made this dream a reality and holds the potential to protect the intellectual property of music companies, film studios, gaming, and software developers worldwide. Incorporation of the powerful IP-X protocol into existing ISO standards for RFID will allow us to provide our customers with a standards based solution that can solve many problems in our industry."

"We see this announcement as the first step toward new international standards to safeguard optical media and the subsequent adoption of the COD concept as a global standard," says Gordon Westwater, President, IPICO Inc.

Through RFID, the COD system gives each item a unique mark that cannot be peeled off, links it to its source via an authentication code that penetrates through packing materials and can be verified en masse. This enables a manufacturer to identify and authenticate 100 discs packed in a sealed carton within a few seconds, without stalling a shipping process or opening a box. In comparison, conventional techniques often require packaging to be broken and discs verified one-by-one in a portable player. Conventional security also relies on special encoding schemes, which sophisticated pirates can mimic or hack at the playing device to enable illegal play. Likewise, techniques that use secure markings on discs are only unique to the title, not to the item, making them easy to clone and bypass law enforcement scrutiny. Importantly, a COD solution is cost-effective and offers a quick payback in comparison to the size of the problem it addresses—making it attractive to content owners, distributors, and retailers.

"COD gives the DVD industry the potential to effectively mitigate piracy and in the process, pave the way to a viable future for DVD successors, such as Blu-Ray and HD DVD," adds Dennis Young, CEO, RiRF.

U-Tech plans to first pilot the patented COD solution in its manufacturing plant in Taiwan, using a COD tag developed by IPICO and EM-Microelectronic in Switzerland. To prepare for mass manufacturing, RiRF is currently industrializing the customized COD readers developed by IPICO. A subsequent full pilot will focus on a logistics and supply chain anti-piracy project in U-Tech's manufacturing plants to its distribution center in Australia and will involve several major movie industry customers. A final pilot will engage one or more DVD player manufacturers to prove the concept of offline authentication during end-use COD's real end game. For further information, go to www.utechmedia.com.tw, www.rirf.com, and www.ipico.com.