New Pan European DRM solution?

14 Oct 03 Norway's Beep Science and Netsize have showcased the first pan-European implementation for the download management and rights payment of copyright protected content such as music, images, animations and video clips to mobile phones. With premium SMS connectivity and billing through 50 mobile network operators, Netsize's infrastructure has allowed Beep Science to launch a truly pan-European, commercially viable m(DRM) service. Protection and management of intellectual property rights on all digital platforms has become a major issue for the mobile industry including brand owners, content providers, access providers, service providers and mobile network operators. For example, content providers such as music labels are unwilling to release their intellectual property onto mobile platforms until there are sound protection systems in place. m(DRM) will prevent illegal distribution of content and provide new "controlled" business models and distribution channels such as preview, gifting and super-distribution (peer-to-peer content distribution). Jan Rune Hetle, CEO Beep Science, said: "Thanks to Netsize's strong reactivity and capability to leverage its 'true' and totally secured pan-European distribution network, we are able to show how operators can increase data transactions and traffic revenues with premium messaging in peer-to-peer distribution. The next 6-12 months will be very interesting from the mobile DRM point of view and this world's first pan-European demonstration kicks-off the acceleration of the development of a secure and profitable mobile content distribution ecosystem" With an estimated market worldwide of US$350 billion by 2007, wireless multimedia content will rely heavily on good management of digital rights. Mobile Digital Rights Management (mDRM) is essential for protecting content owner rights while at the same time enabling new ways of distributing content among friends and communities. The business benefits of unleashing the peer-to-peer power of distribution are significant. Great premium content will spread like a good rumour. Content that people might never come across suddenly gets shared around communities of people with similar interest. Object Management Architecture (OMA) DRM standard for super-distribution using separate delivery will enable content owners, retailers and service providers to protect rights and earn incremental revenue via new delivery channels.

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