iQIYI's Proprietary DRM Technology Achieves China Patent Excellence Award, Delivering Strong Copyright Protection for Content Creators

2021.07.13

BEIJING, July 13, 2021  -- iQIYI Inc. (NASDAQ: IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, is pleased to announce that the 22nd World Intellectual Property Office – China National Intellectual Property Administration (WIPO-CNIPA) has honoured the Company's proprietary "Digital Rights Management (DRM) Key Storage and Reading Method and System" with a China Patent Excellence Award for Chinese Outstanding Patented Invention & Industrial Design. Awarded annually by CNIPA in association with WIPO, the award recognizes outstanding achievements in the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights.

iQIYI's self-developed technology is the first DRM system developed by a Chinese internet video platform to obtain certification from ChinaDRM Lab, China's most prestigious DRM organization. The WIPO-CNIPA awards are the only official recognition of patented inventions in China. Receiving the award is a further demonstration of iQIYI's independent innovation capabilities in the field of digital rights protection and a symbol that digital rights, an important part of IP protection, receive increased attention.

Based on encryption technologies, DRM is a key technology in digital copyrights protection that can, to a certain extent, prevent digital content from being pirated during its online transmission. iQIYI's proprietary DRM system has two components: the implementation of ChinaDRM standards and security protection. An award-winning patented technology is applied to strengthen the security of iQIYI's DRM system, making it more effective in preventing attackers from pirating video files, thereby safeguarding the rights and interests of content creators.

iQIYI's encryption protection technology also benefits from the Company's proprietary IP rights. Compared with externally purchased DRM systems, the system developed in-house offers natural advantages such as system architecture with wider adaptability, faster iteration, and patching and lower communication costs. The efficient integration of the DRM system and iQIYI's content operation system delivers a more stable technical performance and superior user experience - all at a lower cost. 

Since 2013, iQIYI has been actively engaged in the independent research and development of a DRM system, and has in recent years continued to invest in key areas such as overlay key cryptography, white-box cryptography, and obfuscation solutions, as well as video encryption and deferred processing solutions. In addition to DRM, the Company has also been working on the application of core technologies for copyright protection, including hotlinking prevention, digital video fingerprinting, blockchain-based copyright protection, and extensive monitoring. In 2020, iQIYI monitored more than 2,000 monitoring platforms and removed nearly 7 million pirated video links.

Going forward, iQIYI will continue to enhance its independent innovation capability in copyright protection and guide the industry to focus more on the issue to build a more effective and healthy entertainment ecosystem.

About iQIYI, Inc.
iQIYI, Inc. is an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China. Its corporate DNA combines creative talent with technology, fostering an environment for continuous innovation and the production of blockbuster content. iQIYI's platform features highly popular original content, as well as a comprehensive library of other professionally-produced content, partner-generated content and user-generated content. The Company distinguishes itself in the online entertainment industry by its leading technology platform powered by advanced AI, big data analytics and other core proprietary technologies. iQIYI attracts a massive user base with tremendous user engagement, and has developed a diversified monetization model including membership services, online advertising services, content distribution, live broadcasting, online games, IP licensing and online literature.