Watermarking for research and product development

Designs, specifications and findings are shared across teams and with suppliers while a product is still confidential. Invisproof issues each recipient an individual copy with an invisible watermark, so that intellectual property found outside its intended audience can be identified.

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Research material and its recipients

Specifications, designs and findings

Product specifications, roadmaps, design reviews, test reports and research papers circulate as documents and presentations, with renderings and photographs of prototypes as images.

Internal teams and outside suppliers

The same material is read by engineers, researchers and product managers inside the organization and by suppliers, contract manufacturers and research partners outside it.

The period before launch or filing

A product under development is confidential until its launch, and research may need to remain undisclosed until a patent application has been filed.

An individual copy for each team and supplier

Invisproof issues a copy to every recipient inside and outside the organization and records its issue, without a change to the formats in which the work is done.

The process for research material

Watermark

The Document Engine and the Media Engine prepare an individual copy of each specification, presentation and image for every recipient.

Distribute

Members of the organization sign in with their own accounts, and suppliers open their copies with a passcode or a one-time code sent by email.

Identify

If a design or a specification is found outside its intended audience, an investigation compares it with the copies issued and identifies the copy it came from.

Stages of development

Findings and proposals are shared among researchers and with partner institutions before anything is published or filed.

  • Research papers and proposals
  • Copies for partner institutions
  • Material held until publication or filing

Controls for research material

Files opened in the browser

A file is opened in the secure viewer in a browser, with nothing to download and nothing to install. The organization decides which files are opened only in this way.

  • Nothing to download
  • Nothing to install
  • Decided file by file

What a research organization gains

Suppliers and research partners can be given the detail their work requires. Because each copy remains accountable, a specification need not be reduced before it leaves the organization.

Questions about research and product material

Must suppliers install software to open a file?

No. Nothing is installed on any device. A supplier opens a file in the secure viewer in a browser, or in the usual application where the organization permits a copy to be saved.

Can some files be viewed only, while others may be saved?

Yes. The organization decides, file by file, whether a copy is read only in the secure viewer or may also be saved in its original format. A saved copy can be viewed offline and keeps its watermark.

Does Invisproof replace access controls or data loss prevention?

No. Those controls govern who may reach a file and what may leave the network. Invisproof is concerned with what was shared with permission: it issues each permitted recipient an individual copy and allows a found copy to be identified.

Are research files used to train models?

No. Files provided by customers are not used to train models, and Invisproof's staff cannot open them.

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Invisproof is provided to organizations by approval.

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