Digital world is the new reality of today. It is the result of fantastic new technologies that ease consumers' life. For example, digital technology facilitates transfers between devices in the homes, or between digital home networks, e.g. through the Internet.
As a consequence a digital world allows copies of a given content (movie, song, video game software) which remain as pure as the original one, unlike in an analog world where copies are degraded in quality. This bears severe consequences for the copyright industry if no high-level protection is made available.
Original copyrighted content is delivered to the home from a number of sources. It may be transmitted via satellite, terrestrial or cable systems, via the Internet, or recorded on a digital tape, a DVD or even a hard disk. Before releasing their content for distribution, the content owners may specify certain access conditions. Some of these conditions regard content protection and will have to be handled by the content protection system within the home. Content may, for example, be designated as "view only", "copy for private use", or "copy freely".
Legal measures (trademarks, patents, specific regulations) exist for protecting intellectual property. The digital age requires new techniques to implement them: complementary technical tools are needed to sustain financial returns and to ensure incentives for new creations.
A digital content protection system will enable content providers and distributors not only to fight a loss in revenues due to piracy, but also and foremost, to create new digital business models. These are the purposes of the SmartRight system
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