Combating illegal commerce and safeguarding your brand’s existence may be a difficult, time-consuming, and sometimes challenging undertaking in the current era of rapid globalization. The investments and inventions of both firms and intellectual property (IP) holders are negatively impacted by counterfeiting. In order to defend their registered rights, businesses now put together more anti-counterfeit programs. A rising number of companies are finding that having someone counterfeit their products may harm their reputation and perhaps hurt their bottom line. In order to trick a customer, counterfeit items often mimic the real thing. This can happen in the healthcare industry, with potentially fatal results.

Customer effects of counterfeiting-

The effects of counterfeiting on consumers are profound. They may have inadvertently bought something that isn’t as good, or the goods may be wholly flawed. Customers won’t believe a business is looking out for their requirements if this happens. The customer can believe that the company doesn’t care to offer any kind of authentication step. The brand won’t be able to relate to the consumer in that way. The good news is that there are numerous different anti-counterfeit systems, some of which are more advanced than others.

Why is counterfeit prevention crucial?

You can see that counterfeiting is a problem all across the world. The harm that counterfeiters do to the brand can be significant. The effects will be severe if customers cannot believe that a business sells real, high-quality items. In addition, it could be challenging for the brand owner to figure out exactly how counterfeiters get away with their crimes. Also, a method that enables numerous versions of assets is crucial since digital assets like patents, research articles, copyrights, and others go through several versions and modifications throughout the course of their lifespan.

Protecting Intellectual Property through Blockchain

By using blockchain, it is possible to create a chain of proof for copyright ownership that cannot be altered. The hash value of the block would change if someone were to alter the data on it, but the subsequent block would continue to use the original hash value that linked the first block, alerting the system to interference. Blockchain offers a mechanism to track the ownership of the original work and is also tamper-proof. If a copyright ownership claim is ever questioned, the data can be accessible to show who the IP’s owner is because the block’s data can preserve the original copyright date. As a result, the community of producers and users becomes more varied and welcoming, which can stimulate innovation and economic progress.

By establishing the terms and conditions, the central authority in the conventional system has the capacity to give or refuse ownership or usage rights to others. This can result in a number of problems, including monopolies and corruption, where a central authority may give exclusive ownership or usage rights to a single organization, leading to an unequal playing field, competition, higher pricing, restricted access to IP, and missed chances for innovation and economic progress. Additionally, a centralized authority may have the capacity to censor or restrict the dissemination of specific IPs, which can impede the free exchange of ideas and information and bar access to IPs that may be crucial for innovation, research, or education.

Therefore, a decentralized system has less possibility for monopolies, censorship, corruption, forgery, and unauthorized changes to IPR ownership or licensing, which can aid in discouraging infringement and guarantee that creators and owners of IPRs are fairly paid for their work.

Utilizing smart contracts is among the most important aspects of blockchain technology. When specific circumstances are satisfied, a smart contract is computer software that automates licensing agreements, making it simpler for artists and IPR owners to monetize their creations through the use of third parties.

How can blockchain play a role in intellectual property (IP) law?

• Clearly defining ownership rights – Since IP rights aren’t automatically registered under the current system, proving infringement becomes challenging. A creative may claim ownership of their work and have a timestamp on it automatically thanks to blockchain technology. This makes it simpler to demonstrate infringement if it happens since blockchain-based documentation identifies the original author and the precise minute the work was created.
• Reducing counterfeit – Owners of luxury brands of items, such as handbags, see a lot of people peddling knockoffs or fakes of the real thing. Even while there are certain indicators, such as price, source, etc., to determine the legitimacy of the goods, they are never sufficient. Sometimes consumers lack the knowledge necessary to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit goods. Since a matching unique identification (like a tag number or QR code) would validate the product’s origins, blockchain technology would enable the number of counterfeit goods to be policed. In an ideal world, a customer may scan this code to learn where the products came from and confirm their legitimacy.
• Licensing trademark rights through smart contracts – The concept of trademark rights licensing via blockchain is interesting since it does not require a third party or any other additional external assistance. The agreement between the two parties is expressed in computer code and has cryptographic signatures for self-execution. The algorithm automatically manages all contract transactions since human interaction is eliminated from the equation. For instance, based on the agreement, the code will specify when a royalty payment is due and will transfer cash to the relevant trademark owners.

Conclusion
A secure, decentralized, and tamper-proof database for managing ownership and transactions is seen as having the potential to revolutionize the management and maintenance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in the modern era where blockchain technology is being used to protect Intellectual Property (IP). In general, while choosing how to store data, blockchain is a technology that should not be disregarded. The technology has improved since it was first used in cryptocurrencies. Blockchain now offers a safe way to store important intellectual property data for documents like patents and copyrights. Smart contracts additional functionality and increased IoT security are provided by the technology.

With the latest anti-counterfeiting packaging techniques, organizations and brands powerless against counterfeiting and theft can ensure and retain their business reputation. Such solutions are more affordable and user-friendly. Thus, such technologies are more convenient for organizations to use than other complicated tools. With MSRvantage, unleash the enormous potential of distributed-ledger technology, and leverage the power of one-of-a-kind anti-counterfeiting techniques for your industry. By providing a complete view of the complex product journey, MSRvantage Track and Trace help enterprises fight fraud and counterfeits. Industries and organizations across various sectors can rely on MSRvantage’s solutions for speed, transparency, traceability, efficiency, and accuracy.