Macrovision Got Blu-ray Disc Security Technology From Cryptography Research

Macrovision  Corporation has completed its acquisition of SPDC (Self-Protecting Digital Content) technology from Cryptography Research, Inc. (CRI), a San Francisco-based R&D organization focused on solving complex security problems. SPDC forms the basis of BD+, a key element of Blu-ray’s content security platform. The technology acquisition, announced November 19, 2007, includes certain CRI patents, security software code, and related third party customer and partner agreements.
More than 20 companies including major CE manufactures, motion picture studios, as well as The Blu-ray Disc Association have adopted BD+, an added layer of content protection for movies and other premium entertainment released on the Blu-ray Disc standard.Macrovision intends to maintain and support the current BD+ licensing program.  The technology complements Macrovision’s existing ACP and RipGuard video security solutions.

Similar to Macrovision’s ACP technology, BD+ resides both on media and in playback devices. Title-specific security code is embedded in each BD+ protected disc. On the device side, an embedded virtual machine and APIs are integrated directly into the media player, which communicate with the BD+ code on the discs. As a result, new titles can carry unique security code to address emerging threats, thus providing content producers the ability to respond to security breaches without impacting legitimate consumers.  

Macrovision Corp.

Cryptography Research, Inc.