DisneyGranted patentSecurity & privacyInterest 6/10

Disney patents system to embed digital usage rules into media files

This system takes a media file and a list of rules to create a digital contract that defines how the content can be used. It stores this contract in a secure database and hides a digital watermark inside the file that points to that database.

Why it mattersIt offers a technical way to enforce specific licensing terms directly within digital media files rather than just through external agreements.

In the filing’s own words

A system includes a memory storing software code, and a hardware processor executing the software code to receive media content including a media content ID, identify, using the media content ID, one or more rule(s) governing use of the media content, the rule(s) including at least one of: (a) one or more first rules restricting use of the media content, or (b) one or more second rules permitting use of the media content, and generate, based on the rule(s), a digital contract specifying at least one of: (i) one or more constraints on use of the media content, or (ii) one or more enablements on use of the media content. The software code also registers the digital contract with the media content ID in a secure database, generates, using data identifying the secure database, a first watermark, and embeds the first watermark identifying the secure database into the media content.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A system comprising: a memory storing a software code; and a hardware processor configured to execute the software code to: receive media content including a media content identification (ID); identify, using the media content ID, one or more rules governing use of the media content, the one or more rules including at least one of: (a) one or more first rules restricting use of the media content, or (b) one or more second rules permitting use of the media content; generate, based on the one or more rules governing use of the media content, a digital contract specifying at least one of: (i) one or more constraints on use of the media content, or (ii) one or more enablements on use of the media content; register the digital contract with the media content ID in a secure database accessible over a communication network; generate, using data identifying the secure database, a first watermark; and embed the first watermark into the media content, the first watermark identifying the secure database.

Facts

Company: Disney (Disney Enterprises, Inc.)
Official title: Secure digital registration of contracts governing media content use
Patent number: US12762268B2
Application number: 19096082
Filed: Mar 31, 2025
Granted: Oct 13, 2026
Inventors: 2
Claims: 20

Classified under

G06F 21/6218 Physics & computingG06Q 30/0279 Physics & computing

Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.