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Dolby Laboratories aquires Cinea Corporation
by Jolex Del Pilar
Monday, September 22, 2003
Dolby beefs up anti-piracy measures with aquisition.
Dolby Laboratories announced that it has acquired Cinea, a start-up content-protection and anti-piracy technology company based in Virginia. Cinea will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, with Cinea personnel and offices remaining in Virginia. Cinea CEO and founder Robert Schumann becomes head of the new Dolby subsidiary, reporting to Tim Partridge, Vice President, Professional Division, Dolby Laboratories.
“Content is increasingly being delivered digitally, and unauthorized use of digital content can have serious consequences for the content owner. Content protection has thus become an ever more important element in enabling the delivery of high-quality entertainment,” said Partridge. “Cinea has proven expertise in this important area, and is an ideal complement to Dolby’s audio and image expertise.”
Mr. Partridge added, “Our studio customers have made it clear that piracy is the most important problem they face today. Dolby has a long history of meeting the needs of the film industry through technical innovations such as stereo, surround sound, and digital audio. Content protection is another area where innovative and comprehensive solutions are clearly needed.”
“Cinea’s mission is to provide world-class anti-piracy tools and services to our studio customers,” said Schumann. “Dolby’s unsurpassed reputation for quality and customer service—and proven ability to bring practical solutions to market—will allow Cinea to expand the scope of our offerings and provide our customers with quality solutions worldwide.”
Cinea, Inc., was founded in 1999 to develop and commercialize a broad variety of content protection solutions for markets that include digital cinema, in-flight entertainment, high-definition DVD, and video on demand. Most of Cinea’s staff previously formed the senior technical and operating team for Digital Video Express, LP (Divx), a Circuit City subsidiary that implemented a highly secure DVD-based delivery system.
--- Jolex Del Pilar |
