The Test Institute of Film Technical Quality (TIFTQ) under China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) signed an agreement on Monday in Beijing with NexGuard, a forensic watermarking technology and solution provider, according to a report from Chinese online news site ifeng.com.
At the signing ceremony, TIFTQ Director Zhang Wei noted that the use of watermark detection technology in China has helped SAPPRFT combat the illegal distribution of films in more than 200 piracy cases.
He cited instances in which the technology helped prevent the distribution of Painted Skin, Lost in Thailand, Monster Hunt and Mr Six - films that were all bootlegged at their premieres - as successful examples of this technology's use.
With NexGuard's watermarking technology, TIFTQ will be able to keep better track of any film screened in the Chinese mainland by inserting watermarks that can not be detected by the human eye into these movies.
With the information contained in these watermarks that can only be detected by NexGuard software, TIFTQ will be able to determine where any illegal copies originated and from there track down the parties involved in piracy.
NexGuard has already used this technology in a number of cinemas worldwide to great success.
