You know when you're watching a pirated film downloaded from the Internet -- there's no mistaking the fuzzy footage, or the guy in the front row getting up for popcorn. Despite the poor quality, pirated video is a serious problem around the world. Criminal copyright infringement occurs on a massive scale over the Internet, costing the film industry -- and the U.S. economy -- billions of dollars annually.

Now Dr. Alex Bronstein of Tel Aviv University's Department of Electrical Engineering has a new way to stop video pirates. With his twin brother Michael and Israeli researcher Prof. Ron Kimmel, he has developed the ultimate solution: treating video footage like DNA.

Following the success of the inaugural MSC Malaysia Kre8tif! Digital Content Conference and Awards in 2009, the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) in collaboration with official partners X|Media|Lab (XML) today announced the opening of submissions for this year’s Kre8tif! Awards.