Baidu unveils new system to combat copyright infringement using Blockchain Technology - Blockchain News

One of the world’s largest search engine Baidu has just unveiled a blockchain based photo service system to protect image intellectual property in China. Chinese based Baidu announced on its website last week that a new system called Totem will safeguard internet user’s digital image rights using blockchain technology.

Totem utilizes a blockchain to place timestamps on each uploaded copyright photograph with the user’s identity and other related information and stores it on a distributed network (Blockchain). Such method would make the image easily traceable and secure owing to the immutability of the blockchain technology.

Blockchain Technology finds use in Stock Photo Services

The current method to verify owners of intellectual properties is that the platform would compare and analyses images on the internet with the data stored on the blockchain system using internet data scrapping and artificial intelligence. A unique tag on the image would be used in sync with a blockchain system to reproduce, trace and monitor the image properties in order to prevent copyright theft.

Totem is not the first Chinese Baidu attempt at using blockchain technology. Recently, Baidu launched its own blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform called Baidu Trust. The platform would ease user’s interaction with the blockchain service. Baidu Trust will harness the traceability feature of blockchain to make trading more flexible and simpler. The company also disclosed that the Baidu Trust can find use in digital currency, digital billing, bank credit management, insurance management financial auditing, and more.

Seeing the feasibility of this new system of protecting copyright properties, Visual China Group, a Chinese-based partner of Getty Images has also adopted the system. It is still not known if the new system would be built on the public blockchain domain or a private one.