Digimarc Rolls Out New Driver License and Central Issuance Process in Florida
TUALATIN, Ore.--Aug. 5, 2004--| Florida begins issuing newly designed digital driver license to residents renewing online or via mail or phone |
Digimarc announced today that Florida recently began issuing the newly designed digital driver license that employs advanced security features and card material from Digimarc. The licenses are produced by Digimarc in a highly secure factory at the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) headquarters in Tallahassee. The first residents to receive the new license are those who renew their license or change their address by mail, by telephone, or online. Most non-U.S. citizens are also processed through the central issuance factory after receiving temporary permits at field offices, and they also have begun to receive the new driver licenses via mail.
The new Florida licenses are being produced at a new, secure central issuance facility using Digimarc's proprietary ExianDual(TM) polycarbonate card stock and an advanced inventory control system developed by Digimarc. ExianDual is a highly durable and secure card stock that has unique security properties that Digimarc has specifically developed to support secure driver licenses.
The central issuance facility will produce more than 1.3 million licenses annually for residents -- taking advantage of the increasingly popular online, phone, and mail renewal options. The central system is designed to accommodate the expected growth of these services over the next five years. Florida currently issues more than 5 million driver licenses systemwide annually, including central issue production and over-the-counter issuance in branch offices, and this volume is expected to increase with the anticipated growth of Florida's population.
In addition to the ExianDual card stock itself, Florida's new licenses also include advanced security technologies, including Digimarc IDMarc(TM) digital watermarking security, a covert, machine-readable and interlocking security layer designed to deter counterfeiting and enable cross-jurisdictional driver license authentication.
"Since Digimarc won the Florida digital driver license contract last summer, we have been working diligently with state officials to redesign the Florida license to incorporate a range of advanced security features and begin production for renewal licenses at a centralized issuance facility," said Paul Gifford, president and COO, Digimarc. "We are pleased to have hit one of our major milestones and to see new driver licenses rolling out for online, phone, and by-mail renewals and for non-U.S. citizens."
"With the introduction of our new digital driver license, Florida remains a leader in providing state-of-the-art technologies to serve Floridians and support the law enforcement community in achieving its mission to protect the highway safety and security of our citizens," said Fred Dickinson, executive director, Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. "We are pleased to be working with Digimarc to implement this solution."
"All customers of our central issuance process have begun receiving the new Florida license, which was designed to help deter identity theft, counterfeiting, and fraud. We are pleased with the progress of the system rollout and look forward to bringing these driver license enhancements soon to all valid driver license holders in Florida," said Robert Sanchez, public information administrator, Florida Department Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
About Digimarc
Digimarc Corporation , based in Tualatin, Oregon, is a leading supplier of secure media solutions used in a wide range of security, identification and digital media content applications. Digimarc provides products and services that enable production of more than 60 million personal identification documents and driver licenses per year in 32 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and more than 20 countries. Digimarc's digital watermarking technology provides a persistent digital identity for various media content and is used to enhance the security of financial documents, identity documents and digital images, and support other media rights management applications.
Digimarc has an extensive intellectual property portfolio, with 168 issued U.S. patents with more than 3,000 claims and more than 350 pending patent applications in digital watermarking, personal identification and related technologies.
The company is headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon, with other U.S. offices in Burlington, Massachusetts; Fort Wayne, Indiana; San Francisco, California; and the Washington DC area; and European offices in London. Please go to www.digimarc.com for more company information.
Securities Safe Harbor
With the exception of historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain certain "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current reasonable expectations and are subject to certain assumptions, risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied from the statements herein or from historical results, due to changes in economic, business, competitive, technological and/or regulatory factors. More detailed information about these factors is set forth in filings by Digimarc with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent annual report on Form 10-K and the most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Digimarc is not obligated to (and expressly disclaim any obligation to) revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances, whether they arise as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.