Academy Award-Winning Producer Nekojarashi and Intertrust Introduce “Roadstead,” World’s First Digital Rights Managed Media Distribution Platform for Web 3.0 Content Creators

Tokyo and San Francisco, June 13, 2022, – Academy Award Winner for Best International Feature Film, Japanese media producer behind Drive My Car, Nekojarashi, and Intertrust, the leader in digital rights management (DRM) technologies, today announced “Roadstead,” a groundbreaking NFT marketplace that enables users to view, sell, trade and exhibit content while giving content owners complete control of distribution and profits generated. Unlike current solutions, Roadstead adds new, rich digital business models such as lending, rentals, and superdistribution that give content creators and rights owners the opportunity to enjoy and monetize their assets securely and form content-centric communities. Roadstead leverages Intertrust Platform’s Token Rights Management (TRM) technology to provide a next generation platform for digital media distribution for Web 3.0 with capabilities never before seen in NFT marketplaces.

Key Features of Roadstead:

• Users can participate as the distributor of video content and other digital assets such as gaming, anime, manga, film, sports and music
• Rights holders can establish rules in advance for each asset, such as the price, number of sales, scope of resale, rental, lending, etc. 
• Rules are recorded in a blockchain to ensure correct operation
• Integration with crypto wallets
• Content is protected and managed by Digital Rights Management technology, making it technically difficult to reproduce or modify without rightsholder permission 
• Advanced user authentication, fraud protection and risk management capabilities

Roadstead uses blockchain and DRM technologies to create a platform that safeguards against piracy and unauthorized resale and duplication. Creators and rights owners can interact with their fans directly, regardless of device without the need for any gatekeepers. The use of Intertrust DRM for content protection and management combined with Intertrust TRM’s modular architecture for blockchain and fraud prevention algorithms adds enhanced functionality that protects brands’ integrity when content is released to the Internet. 

Nekojarashi Founder and CEO Misaki Kawamura has pioneered data sharing and distribution services for video production and rights holders, including film projects such as the Oscar Winner for Best International Feature Film, Drive My Car. Roadstead will initially feature Japanese content from major brands in gaming, anime, manga, film, sports and music. The company also plans to expand its offerings globally.

“Japanese content plays a major role on the world stage,” said Misaki Kawamura, Founder and CEO of Nekojarashi. “The fans are deeply loyal and enjoy digital content in all forms making them prime customers for NFTs. Yet existing marketplaces lack capabilities that consumers and rights owners need to protect their investments such as fraud protection to preserve content integrity and brand equity, thus scaring away major brand holders. With Intertrust’s TRM technology, our Roadstead marketplace fixes this by providing authenticated content in a safe environment with features that go well beyond buying and selling NFTs.”

Nekojarashi’s Roadstead is built on Intertrust Platform’s Token Rights Management and Intertrust ExpressPlay multi-DRM system, the world’s most broadly deployed DRM system. These integrated technologies greatly surpass traditional DRM technology, which today simply secure the link between service providers and devices. Intertrust TRM integrates with conventional DRMs and any blockchain technology to allow the formation of sophisticated digital asset commerce chains from creator to consumer.  Intertrust Platform is agnostic to blockchain and crypto technologies and can use any blockchain the adopter chooses. 

“Existing NFT systems are a house of cards aimed at trading content like tulips,” said Talal G. Shamoon, Intertrust CEO. “Yet, for the first time in history, NFT consumers are buying the rights to digital assets and the actual content, setting the stage for true peer-to-peer content trading. We launched Intertrust TRM to power this new generation of marketplaces, and we’re delighted that Nekojarashi are building a rich digital commerce marketplace that empowers creators and consumers like never before.”

“Intertrust DRM helped lead the charge in taking the music and film industries onto the Internet in the late 90s,” said Albhy Galuten, CEO and Co-founder of Agora Media, a new company focused on enabling creators to make and distribute their works. The Grammy Award-winning record producer turned technologist added, “Intertrust TRM is a new dawn, adding new dimensions that allow rights to be tracked and traded from creator to consumer, enabling the creative industry to fully implement their vision for total Internet commerce. The opportunities are boundless.”

Built on Intertrust Platform TRM and Intertrust ExpressPlay, Roadstead is scheduled to be available in the summer of 2022.

About Nekojarashi

Nekojarashi Inc. develops specialized video related cloud services based on its philosophy of “making people more creative with the cloud.” These services cover the entire chain of content distribution including video content management for content owners and a distribution service for delivering directly to users. The services have been adopted by major intellectual property holders such as movie production companies, major broadcasting stations, advertising agencies, game providers, and professional sports teams. The company’s cloud services are widely accepted due to the creation of an “effortless” and comfortable data sharing service for creators. Highest priority is also placed on protecting the rights of intellectual property holders with thorough security using DRM technology provided through the partnership with Intertrust. The result is a flexible delivery platform responsive to a variety of user needs. This is the culmination of Nekojarashi’s unique expertise in constructing cloud platforms based on the company’s experience of developing and provisioning cloud services since its founding in 2006, and its continuing service philosophy. For more information, please visit https://nekojarashi.com.

About Intertrust

Intertrust provides trusted computing products and services to leading global corporations–from mobile, consumer electronics and IoT manufacturers, to service providers and enterprise software platform companies. These products include the world’s leading digital rights management (DRM) and technologies to enable private data exchanges for various verticals, including energy, entertainment, retail/marketing, automotive, fintech, and IoT. Founded in 1990, Intertrust is headquartered in Silicon Valley with regional offices in London, Tokyo, Mumbai, Bangalore, Beijing, Seoul, and Tallinn. The company has a legacy of invention, and its fundamental contributions in the areas of computer security and digital trust are globally recognised. Intertrust holds hundreds of patents that are key to Internet security, trust, and privacy management components of operating systems, trusted mobile code and networked operating environments, web services, and cloud computing. Additional information is available at intertrust.com, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.