After a trial involving brands, border control, and logistics providers, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) stated in a post on Monday that blockchain-based anti-counterfeiting technologies showed potential.Following a months-long trial that yielded “promising results,” EUIPO has completed a proof of concept for an initiative now known as European Logistics Services Authentication (ELSA), based on a different project known as the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), after “engaging in real-life operational tests with four brands, two logistics operators, and a customs authority.”
This year, EUIPO, an EU organization with offices in Alicante, Spain, hopes to create an open-source platform that will enable every link in the trade supply chain to follow items and verify their authenticity.The idea of using distributed ledger technology to combat fakes is not new, but it hasn’t worked in practice.
The EUIPO project’s proponents claim that by utilizing open source technology, it may avoid the demise of overly controlled systems like IBM’s TradeLens, which announced its closure in November of last year.
According to the EUIPO, counterfeit goods account for 2.5% of world trade and are worth about 412 billion euros ($451 billion).