Ant Group Launches Copyright Services Platform

Just posted online a song or piece of software you wrote and worried about it getting ripped off?

If so, Chinese FinTech Ant Group has a deal for you.

As Ant Group is on the verge of launching a blockbuster, $35 billion IPO, its blockchain business, AntChain, has unveiled a new platform designed to help those on the creative side of the aisle protect their work from poachers.

AntChain’s new digital copyright services platform uses a combination of blockchain and AI technologies “to quickly authenticate and verify a variety of original works, from music scores to videos, images, and articles and essays,” the company noted in a press release.

According to AntChain, the new copyright services platform works like this:

The writer, software designer, singer or other “creator” uploads her or his work onto the copyright platform, which then searches its database  to see whether the particular piece of content is already in the system.

If it can’t find a match, the AntChain copyright services platform will produce both a “unique digital copyright certification containing basic information about the work’ as well as a “notary stamp.”

The aim, according to AntChain, is to create “tamper-proof certifications can also be submitted as evidence in copyright infringement and tort cases.”

And it can also save time, said AntChain, noting that applying for copyright registration and certification is both a time-consuming and complicated process.

AntChain claims its platform reduces the time needed to a minute, while also saving as much as 95 percent in “related expenditures.”

In addition, content creators can use its copyright services platform as a search mechanism as well in order to flag potential infringements or knockoffs of their work, according to AntChain.

“We believe that AntChain can play a pivotal role in building trust among multiple parties and solving real-life problems for the copyright industry,” Guofei Jiang, president of Ant Group’s advanced technology division, said in the press release. “The AntChain-powered digital copyright services platform was specifically designed to address the pain points that creators typically encounter when trying to authenticate and protect their work.”