Digital watermarks are one of the tools which helps to make the distribution of digital material more secure. It is a kind of digital signal or pattern hidden directly in digital content. The paper deals with the multi-faceted aspects of digital watermarking (DWM) technology. It also discusses the need for DWM with the properties like robustness, security, invertibility, transparency, complexity, capacity, and verification. The key aspects are given with the solutions for DWM. Few companies involved in DWM activities are discussed with the technique of embedding with different types of watermarks. It discusses tool and techniques for images, text, and other applications of DWM. The possible attacks on DWM and the organisations involved in developing standards for it are described. It has been concluded that the protection of individual rights is a must, and deeper understanding of the DWM will lead to the design of more reliable systems for safe-guarding digital
contents.