is there any benefit of adding a watermark in our design?

[Muhammad Ramzan]

I want to know why do we add watermarks in our designs. All of us know that there are a lot of tools that can easily remove watermarks. Then why do we add them? when we already know that just by a little effort our watermark can be removed?

 

[sansastark]

There are 2 benefit:
Branding identify
Prevent copy

 

[Maria Marketing]

There is always going to be a way around a watermark and some crook being able to remove them but I think you should use them on important images just to make it a little harder on them. Whilst it might not stop all crooks from stealing your image, some people might not know how to remove them so it should stop some crooks for getting to steal and use or sell them.

 

[ProfMike]

I always use watermarks on copyrighted material or trademarked material that I am trying to protect.

And you are correct, watermarks with a little effort can be removed but the signature that the watermark was part of the graphic, image or document can never be removed without an extreme amount of effort and someone very knowledgeable in binary machine code. It is all hexadecimal information that most people have no idea how to read.

Everything created on a digital system now has a digital signature, it has been that way for many years. Many people do not even know that it is there or how to see it. That signature includes a tremendous amount of information on the creation of that item. Whether it be an image, a photo, a document or whatever. When you add a watermark you add to that digital signature. Removing the watermark from view does just that, it removes it from view.

If the watermark is added correctly the digital signature does not remove the watermark information, removing the watermark just adds to the digital signature. The information it adds is kind of interesting. It can tell me the date, the application, the MAC address of the hardware and quite a bit of other information about how the watermark was removed. Ask any good copyright lawyer they use this type of information all the time to protect their clients.

So yes, if you have something that you really want to protect, watermark it. Or better still add your information on the copyright to the digital signature. Without a tremendous amount of effort that signature cannot be changed. Oh and by the way, even if the signature is changed, it tracks that also. And for all you guys that think, I will just remove the signature, If you remove the signature completely the document is no longer valid and would not load. Pretty cool, huh.....

I think I have given away enough secrets for today.

 

[Dean]

Then why do we add them?

Well even though there is always someone who can remove all traces (or most) of watermarks if they have the right knowledge and skills, I think it's best to do to anything that you want to protect. Even though some people might get away with removing a watermark and using your property, at least if you use a watermark it will deter those who don't know how to remove them or at least make the lazy ones look for other images to steal.

I say make it a bit harder on the thief and make him or her have to at least work at steal your property.

Cheers, Dean

 

[ulterios]

I think that if you want to protect your image and the watermark won't interfere with the images intended purpose, then why not watermark the image just to make it a little harder for the basic/casual image thief that doesn't know how to remove them?