EUIPO, the European Union’s intellectual property office, said it is hopeful in trials of protecting intellectual property rights with Blockchain.
EUIPO wants investors and customs officials to use open source tools to authenticate branded products. However, they stated that they were hopeful in the trials conducted in this area.
EU Intellectual Property Office Hopeful for Progress of Pilots on Rights Protection
EUIPO, the European Union’s intellectual property office, said blockchain-based anti-fraud trials “show promise”. EUIPO encourages investors and customs officials to use open source tools to authenticate branded products.
After a trial involving brands, border control and logistics operators, EUIPO stated that blockchain-based anti-fraud tools “show promise”. This trial was carried out by “entering real-life operational tests with four brands, two logistics operators and a customs office”. The trial is known as European Logistics Services Authentication (ELSA) based on the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) project.
EUIPO aims to develop an open source platform this year to ensure that every link in the commercial supply chain can track products and check their authenticity. While combating counterfeiting using distributed ledger technology is not a new idea, being successful in this area presents challenges in practice. Supporters of EUIPO’s project stated that by using open source technology, they can avoid the disadvantages of unnecessary centralized systems.
