In an effort to get content creators to post on Facebook, the social media giant officially bought the rights to Source3 which will assist content creators in monetizing their work while preventing piracy.
Source3 is a startup founded in New York that has raised more than $4 million, largely from a seed round led by Contour Venture Partners. Originally a 3D printing rights management company, the startup has expanded its horizons to the world of digital entertainment. Facebook purposefully bought the startup to prevent others from stealing content without permission, and Source3’s mission statement is to build technology to “detect intellectual property that has been shared by internet users without permission.”
The startup reiterates its goal by stating, “At Source3, we set out to recognize, organize and analyze branded intellectual property in user-generated content, and we are proud to have identified products across a variety of areas including sports, music, entertainment and fashion.”
The combination of Source3 and Facebook’s rights manager software allows for creators to essentially watermark their videos and block the reuploading of those videos by unwanted parties. On the other hand, other parties would be allowed to upload the video to Facebook, but they would have to pay a certain amount to the original content creator to reward them for their content. The issue with Facebook currently is that most content creators are unaware when other smaller pages or random individuals upload their content without permission, but this software would prevent that from happening.
A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement shared with Recode about the company’s recent acquisition: “We’re excited to work with the Source3 team and learn from the expertise they’ve built in intellectual property, trademarks and copyright. As always, we are focused on ensuring we serve our partners well.”
Facebook is headed in the right direction with its serious anti-pirating approach. If the site is successful with their new initiative, other social media sites may want to follow in its footsteps.
Mohammad Sultani for TechFunnel.com
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