Copyfish

Copyfish is a software organisation based in Germany that develops and maintains the Copyfish browser extension, a tool designed to extract text from images, PDFs, and video frames using optical character recognition technology. The extension is available for both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, allowing users to select any on‑screen content and convert it into editable text without needing external software. Its primary function serves individuals and professionals who need to digitise printed or visual information quickly, such as students, researchers, and office workers. By integrating directly into the browser, Copyfish eliminates the need for separate desktop applications or online OCR services, providing a seamless workflow within the user’s browsing environment. The extension’s popularity was noted in reports describing it as a popular Chrome extension prior to the 2017 security incident. Its core offering remains focused on delivering accurate, on‑demand text recognition across a variety of digital media formats.

Copyfish’s distinguishing attributes lie in its specialization in lightweight, browser‑based OCR that works across multiple platforms without requiring installation of additional software, a feature that sets it apart from heavier desktop OCR suites. The organisation’s development team, located in Germany, was responsible for maintaining both the Chrome and Firefox versions of the extension until a phishing attack in July 2017 compromised a developer’s credentials and allowed attackers to hijack the Chrome variant. During the hijack, the malicious update injected advertisements and spam into the extension, transferred control to the attackers’ account, and prevented the original developers from disabling or removing the malicious version despite their efforts. Although the developers detected the issue promptly, they could not regain control until the Chrome Web Store intervened, leaving users exposed to unwanted adware for a period of time. Notably, the Firefox counterpart of Copyfish remained unaffected by the incident, continuing to operate as originally intended. No further details about the organisation’s ownership, parent‑subsidiary relationships, or overall size are disclosed in the available sources.