SAN FRANCISCO, CA Aug 29, 2000 Magex, the leading global digital commerce service, today announced the beta testing of its digital rights management product for publishing content online. This comes on the heels of the company's decision to form a business unit dedicated entirely to the needs of the online publishing industry.
Magex's digital commerce service provides a trusted payment infrastructure, allowing consumers to make fast and safe payments for the delivery of digital content such as music, business information, video and books via the Internet. The Magex product offers persistent copyright protection - from a book chapter, to corresponding graphics - via InterTrust's (NASDAQ: ITRU) digital rights management software platform. The product supports text, graphics and images in content formats including HTML, .pdf, Microsoft Office, jpeg, .txt, .rtf, .bmp and .gif.
The product supports subscriptions and memberships and allows consumers to preview content before purchasing. Content is divided up into primary and secondary classifications letting the consumer pick and choose which areas are relevant to them. Once the material is purchased, the content can be viewed, printed or saved depending on the original offer.
Magex recently announced the appointment of David Batista as the head of Magex's new publishing unit. Batista has worked as strategic council and sales and marketing representative for several top tier multinationals including Novell, Lexis-Nexis, IBM and Gateway.
"The music industry has blazed the path on copyright infringement issues and now the publishing industry will reap the benefits," said Batista. "Magex's clearinghouse expertise and top-notch technology ensures that publishers will harness the Internet business model while protecting their intellectual property."
The online publishing industry continues to expand rapidly with industry analyst Forrester estimating that 426 million books will be downloaded via the Internet by 2004. Magex's new business unit will leverage the company's current digital commerce solution for the music industry and adapt it to the publishing industry. Magex is the payment clearinghouse for digital content on the Web for clients including Universal Music Group, Channelfly and AsiaMix.
"Magex was the first digital commerce service to offer a live product that protects copyright online via the InterTrust platform," said Patrick Campbell, Chairman and CEO of Magex. "We're now applying our knowledge and experience to extend the same advantages to the publishing realm."
About Magex Magex's global digital commerce service is built on sophisticated digital rights management technology provided by InterTrust, the MetaTrust Utility. It delivers persistent protection of digital content and rights alongside a trusted payment process and financial clearinghouse. This allows consumers to pay safely and instantly for digital content purchased via an electronic wallet, a Magex software application resident on the user's PC. Backed by British banking giant, NatWest, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Magex enters the market with over 250 years of banking expertise behind them.
Magex raised US$80 million in its first round equity funding and is currently operating out of offices in London, San Francisco and New York. Major shareholders include Goldman Sachs, Capital Z Financial Services, NatWest (now owned by Royal Bank of Scotland), Universal Music Group, InterTrust Technologies Corporation, Sir Paul McCartney, and Reuters. For more information visit www.magex.com.
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