A faint design or image visible in paper when held to light, or a digital overlay on images to indicate ownership.
From 'water' + 'mark', first used in 13th century Europe for paper manufacturing. The term literally describes marks made by water levels during paper production. The digital sense emerged in the 1990s as a metaphor for similar protective marking.
Watermarks were originally created by varying the thickness of paper during manufacture - the thinner areas let more light through, creating the image. This 800-year-old technology inspired the name for modern digital copyright protection!
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