Digimarc

Digimarc arose as a spin-out from Rhoads's previous company Signet, which he founded in 1994. Signet was also focused on digital watermarking. In 1995, Rhoads and three other Signet employees founded Digimarc in Portland and quickly began developing its first image copyright communication products. Digimarc released its first product the next year in 1996, a software plug-in for applying digital watermarks to images. In 1997, the company was awarded its first patent for digital watermarking.

In 2001, Digimarc acquired a division of Polaroid Corporation and used its technology to establish Digimarc ID Systems, an identification card business, which eventually helped to begin enhancement of driver licenses in 37thirty-seven states. The first state to issue enhanced drivers licenses using Digimarc's technology was Michigan, in 2003. Digimarc ID Systems soon became the second biggest user of fingerprint and facial matching technology, next to the U.S.US government. Digimarc sold Digimarc ID Systems for $315 million in 2008 and began to identify and target new industries to support, including content protection and media enhancement. In 2010, Digimarc developed the Intuitive Computing Platform suite, which later evolved into Digimarc Barcode, a program for companies to manage and create barcodes.

Digimarc is a company that creates digital watermarksdigital watermarks for other companies. It was founded by Geoff Rhoads in 1995 in Portland, Oregon. It is now based in Beaverton, Oregon, with offices in Germany, Japan, England, and New York.

Digimarc arose as a spin-out from Rhoads's previous company Signet, which he founded in 1994. Signet was also focused on digital watermarking. In 1995, Rhoads and three other Signet employees founded Digimarc in Portland and quickly began developing its first image copyright communication products. Digimarc released its first product the next year in 1996, a software plug-in for applying digital watermarks to images. In 1997 the company was awarded its first patent for digital watermarking.

In 2001, Digimarc acquired a division of Polaroid Corporation and used its technology to establish Digimarc ID Systems, an identification card business, which eventually helped to begin enhancement of driver licenses in 37 states. The first state to issue enhanced drivers licenses using Digimarc's technology was Michigan in 2003. Digimarc ID Systems soon became the second biggest user of fingerprint and facial matching technology, next to the U.S. government. Digimarc sold Digimarc ID Systems for $315 million in 2008 and began to identify and target new industries to support, including content protection and media enhancement. In 2010, Digimarc developed the Intuitive Computing Platform suite, which later evolved into Digimarc Barcode, a program for companies to manage and create barcodes.

In 2015, Digimarc Barcode was picked up by its first retail customer, Wegmans Food Markets. The following year, New Seasons Market began using Digimarc Barcode. In 2017, Bizerba also adopted the program. Digimarc Barcode was approved by the USDA in 2019 for the use of disclosing GMOs in products.

2020 was a year of widespread recognition for Digimarc. Homes & Land added Digimarc technology to 27 million magazines in 150 U.S. metro markets; Digimarc's technology powered Walmart's toy catalog's "Scan & Shop" feature for the second year in a row; and Digimarc received, in conjunction with Netto Marken-Discount, the ‘Top Supplier Retail 2020’ award from the German-based EHI Retail Institute in honor of the two companies's partnership.