DMP takes its first step towards a full digital media experience.

 Technical prowess, pragmatism and a renewed call for action dominate the Digital Media Project’s first international meeting

Heidelberg, 20/02/04 – The international Digital Media Project (DMP) concluded its first general assembly meeting in Heidelberg, Germany today announcing a milestone in the development of its organization as an integrating force in the drive towards better and easier digital media experience enabled by a set of technologies that include interoperable digital rights management and protection. After an exhaustive review of the contributed materials, DMP’s new roadmap, which maps the advancement of technical specifications and the support of a comprehensive list of traditional rights and usages of media users across the value chain, has been agreed and is published on its website (www.digital-media-project.org).

DMP is a not-for-profit organization created in the wake of the Digital Media Manifesto (http://manifesto.chiariglione.org/) to develop technical specifications upholding a set of principles that foster the successful development, deployment and use of digital media. Facing an increasingly complex global market for digital media distribution, including new technologies that manage, control and automate the transmission of and access to digital content, DMP aims to provide technical guidance to the marketplace, improve the consumer experience and challenge the industry players to break the “gridlock” and change course working towards the vision of a better digital society where information flows to the benefit of consumers and the rights of authors and distributors are protected.

The meeting with the theme “Mapping of traditional rights and usages from the analogue to the digital space” was held from 18 -20 February a stone’s throw away from the famous Heidelberg Castle overlooking the Neckar river. The meeting was attended by a total of 33 delegates from 11 countries (attendance list available as an attachment to http://www.dmpf.org/project/ga01/resolutions.htm). DMP’s president Leonardo Chiariglione said “This meeting clearly shows the importance of digital media protection as the enabler of a better consumer experience and legitimate media business and, based on the broad spectrum of attendees, documents how DMP is in tune with the needs of the market.”  

The major accomplishments of the first general assembly include a set of requirements to support traditional rights and usages of value-chain players and an updated work plan or roadmap. Craig Schultz, President of Multimedia Architectures, Inc. said: “The most significant output of the meeting for me was determining how the roadmap will portray digital media business models, which will accelerate technical specifications and add some real world validation to the DMP’s efforts.” 

Over the next two years, DMP plans to complete a full technical specification for interoperable digital rights management (DRM) platform; something that hardly exists in today’s gridlock scenario of competing players with proprietary non-interoperable technologies. Domenico Di Martino of Telecom Italia said: “Effective management of intellectual property rights in the digital world is the key to unlock the potential of broadband technologies”. 

On 1^st of December 2003, the Digital Media Project was incorporated as a non-profit organization in Geneva, Switzerland.  The DMP’s charter is to promote the successful development, deployment and use of digital media that respect the rights of creators and rights holders to exploit their works, the wish of end users to fully enjoy the benefits of digital media and the interests of various value-chain players to provide products and services. The second DMP general assembly will be held in Los Angeles, CA on 28-30 April 2004 and will be preceded by a Workshop on Traditional Rights and Usages of media users. 

DMP’s Board of Directors consists of Marina Bosi (MPEG LA, LLC - USA), Leonardo Chiariglione (Chiariglione.org - Italy), Thomas Curran (Enterprise of the Future - USA), Ikuo Minakata (Matsushita Electric Industrial - Japan), José Neri (Sociedad Digital de Autores y Editores - Spain),  Richard Nicol (British Telecom - UK), and Hiroshi Yasuda (University of Tokyo - Japan).  

For further questions, please contact:

Thomas Curran
Digital Media Project
Phone: +1-610-768-8996
thomas.curran@enterpriseofthefuture.com