Fighting Digital Piracy Increases eBook Sales

New York, NY January 14, 2013-- The biggest threat to selling digital intellectual property continues to be the looming threat of online piracy. RosettaBooks, the leading independent eBook publisher, has teamed with Digimarc Guardian(SM) in a case study on preventing piracy to be presented at the 2013 Digital Book World Convention + Expo.

Beginning in June 2011, RosettaBooks implemented the Digimarc Guardian solution to root out and prevent online piracy for its catalog of blacklist and original titles. Previously, occasional legal efforts by the eBook publisher had been costly and minimally effective, especially in the long-term.

“The Digimarc Guardian program focuses on long-term, sustainable solutions to digital piracy,” said Yuri Burka, VP of Global Business Development at Digimarc Guardian. “By providing consistent disincentives to illicit providers of digital content, costly legal action is only rarely needed.”

The Digimarc Guardian program identifies potential pirated content, then narrows down and confirms which websites are in direct violation of property rights. Enforcement begins with takedown notices and warning letters to the provider site.

If the site doesn’t comply, the hosting provider is contacted, and the site may be delisted from search engines. Finally, payment providers and advertising networks will be notified of the violation as well as domain registrars. In less than five percent of cases, legal action is necessary.

The results showed that compliance efforts remained effective for many months. By offering full catalog protection, the eBook publisher is increasing its own revenues in addition to safeguarding authors’ rights.

“My revenues in titles that are the most likely to be pirated are accelerating considerably faster than my revenues in general,” said Arthur Klebanoff, CEO of RosettaBooks. “Digimarc Guardian’s enforcement is significantly boosting my revenues.”

Burka and Klebanoff will present the joint case study at the Digital Book World Conference + Expo, taking place at the Hilton New York Hotel, on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 10 a.m.