Patent ID: 8483429

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: a generating section for generating watermark data indicative of a watermark for copy control, which appears as a result of making a copy; and a composition section for joining original image data obtained by reading an original document with the watermark data generated by the generating section, wherein the original image data includes data of a plurality of color components associated with a pixel constituting an image, wherein the watermark data includes data of one color component associated with a pixel constituting an image, further comprising: a first selecting section for selecting data of one color component associated with the watermark data and data of a plurality of color components associated with the original image data for a pixel where data of one color component associated with the watermark data is used for image formation; a density decreasing section for decreasing density of colors indicated by data of remaining color components, which is obtained by excluding data of a same color as data of one color component associated with the watermark data from data of a plurality of color components associated with the original image data selected by the first selecting section; and a second selecting section for selecting data of a plurality of color components associated with the original image data for a pixel where data of one color component associated with the watermark data is not used for image formation; wherein composite data is composed from data of one color component associated with the watermark data and data of a plurality of color components associated with the original image data selected by the first selecting section and outputted, or data of a plurality of color components associated with the original image data selected by the second selecting section is outputted.