METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR APPLYING A CONTENT-VARIABLE WATERMARK TO A DOCUMENT

A system creates a copy of a document by: receiving an electronic representation a document to be copied onto a substrate; identifying a non-invasive watermark to be printed on the substrate; analyzing the document and the non-invasive watermark to determine whether a threshold amount of the non-invasive watermark can be printed in a white space of the document; and creating a secure copy of the document with the watermark. If the threshold amount of the non-invasive watermark can be printed in the white space, the system will print at least a portion the non-invasive watermark in the white space. Otherwise, the system will modify at least a portion of the non-invasive watermark to comprise an invasive watermark portion, and it will print the invasive watermark portion over a portion of the document's content.