I have always been an advocate for opposing counterfeit or fake designs (replica’s) of branded named products. But this doesn’t mean I don’t understand the value of counterfeiting of course. Counterfeiting is big business; if you haven’t seen the movie “To live and Die in LA” excellent points are taken from this illegal business. Greed is one; making serious money without real working habits is another reason that drives this illegal industry.

Personally I’ve been plagiarized with my designs before by verbatim. This is where the seriousness of the issue lies. Everyone gets inspired from others and modifies this or that; we see it in cars and clothing and many other products as well all the time. But to make an item exactly like another’s is called faking it. To make a product exactly like another’s and including their name on the product is called counterfeiting. And this is where the real problem lies.

Many well established companies look at it from a positive perspective of flattery and I can see why, and I’m sure you can to. I’m a small private label designer trying to become more established, and when I saw my design verbatim with another’s name on it, I felt like I was in the big times. Think about it, there are thousands of watch companies out there, and I was plagiarized, yes I had mixed emotions, but honestly, I was flattered to extreme excitement! I’m too small of a company to fight that off. But from a larger picture and living in a reality of business minded thinking, it sucks to say the least while holding back my tongue for more explicit expletives.

 

 

 

Well times are a changing: High end Luxe Watch manufacture Hublot has stepped up to the plate and created what many other well managed brands may do to stave off counterfeiting. A collaborative partnership with WiseKey; a trusted electronic identification (“E-ID”) technologies to provide identification, authentication and encryption products and services.

A world “first” in the fight against imitations: Hublot joins forces with WiseKey to identify its watches electronically.

From now on, Hublot watches will be protected by a SmartCard, proving their identity and origin. This innovative solution represents a decisive step in the fight against the counterfeit trade.

The idea consists of creating an electronic guarantee certificate, which not only contains the watch identity code, but also enables privileged access to a reserved space on the Hublot web site. Both Hublot sales outlets and clients will be able to use the SmartCard to instantly check via the Internet if the watch is genuine.

It’s the first time that this technology has been used as a protection against counterfeiting. “There is a patent pending on this method,” explained Carlos Moreira, CEO of WiseKey. “It is based on digital identification protected by a cryptographic SmartCard associated with a Hublot watch. We supply a secured platform which the buyer can access via the watchmaker’s website, and within an area reserved for watch identification. If the information contained in the card is not valid, access to this area is simply denied.”

“Hublot is the first company in the world of luxury and watchmaking to attain this level of protection for its products, by combining state-of-the-art electronic technology and traditional watchmaking know-how. I am proud to be the pioneer in this domain, as even though imitation is flattering (he said laughing), manufacture of counterfeit watches is an unacceptable plague for the whole of the watchmaking industry, and we must use every means possible to fight it”, added Jean-Claude Biver, Hublot CEO.

Thus, as from Autumn 2009, purchasers of Hublot watches will find the electronic card included in their watch’s case. In addition to the information enabling traceability of the watch, they will, thanks to this card, be able to connect to the Hublot website and get access to a privileged space reserved for them, while remaining anonymous.

 

Source: http://www.fhs.ch/en/news/news.php?id=693

More of my Thoughts on this subject: http://after8media.com/2009/01/replica-watches-and-replica-designer-shoes-and-handbags/

Tags: Fake Brands, GGI, GGITIME, Hublot, Imitations, Replica, WiseKey

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm and is filed under Current News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.