by Jack Raplee
In today's digital media environment, images can travel almost instantly. They can be downloaded, reposted, screenshotted, stripped of attribution, separated from their original licensing terms, or used in ways their creators and rights holders never intended.
Metadata can help by carrying information about an image's creator, copyright, licensing terms, and contact information. But metadata alone is not always enough. It can be removed as an image moves between platforms or applications, leaving the file disconnected from the information that explains who owns it and how it may be used.
"We came up with the idea from a very basic problem: how do you keep contracts, rights, and ownership information connected to digital media as the media travels?"
TIFFANY WALLING MCGARITY, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, METAPYXL
Metapyxl developed technology that gives a digital image a persistent identity through an invisible embedded marker, combined with metadata, C2PA Content Credentials, provenance, licensing, and rights records. The marker cannot be seen with the human eye but can be detected computationally, and is designed to remain identifiable through common changes such as resizing, compression, cropping, and screenshots.
Metapyxl also holds an issued patent related to connecting contracts and rights information to digital media.
Through the Metapyxl Vault, creators and organizations can associate an image with information including ownership, attribution, licensing terms, usage permissions, contracts, and AI-related permissions. This creates a record that can remain connected to the identity of the asset even when the image itself travels beyond the system where it originated.
