On 5-6th June 2019, Pablo Guerra, LuxTag®’s Business Development Director for Europe, had the honor of attending the Anti-Counterfeiting Blockathon Forum in Brussels, Belgium. This invite-only event was sponsored by the EUIPO – the European Union Intellectual Property Office, backed by the European Commission and linked to the European Blockchain Partnership Initiative. It aimed at exploring the solutions based on blockchain technology to solve the current most significant problem in international trade: counterfeiting.

In its official press release, the EUIPO states that “the forum was designed to encourage the development of cutting edge technological solutions to combat counterfeiting” and that the event was an opportunity for both the private and the public sectors to “make “on-the-spot” progress in developing innovative solutions in the area of supply chain management”.

International trade in counterfeit goods

The event happened over two days, during which major industry key players gathered to build a framework to use blockchain to fight counterfeiting efficiently. Among the participants were Amazon, Chanel, ScanTrust, Commission representatives, and many others. The forum kicked off with the introduction of the objectives of the event, followed by the definition of the use case and the outline of a Pilot. Over two days, members of the Forum worked together to define elements and objectives that will help to draw the basic blockchain framework within the European Union.

Pablo Guerra speaking at Anti-Counterfeiting Blockathon Forum

“In today’s fast-moving world, we need to use the latest technology to keep a reliable record of the origin of goods and their progress through international supply chains. Blockchain’s ability to create permanent and unchangeable records makes it one of the best candidates to deliver results on the ground.”

– Christian Archambeau, Executive Director of the EUIPO

LuxTag looked forward to taking part in the discussions and exchanging action plans with other members of the anti-counterfeiting industry to work towards the common goal. Even if LuxTag’s headquarters are not based in Europe, we were honored to be the only non-European company to receive an invite to this event as it marks an essential step towards the startup’s reputation in the global tech industry.

“It has been a great week here in Brussels; everyone from the European Union delegates to custom officers and logistics operators have shown commitment and support for this project. In the next months, we will be able to test the first pilot with the help of all members of this forum, following the true spirit of a decentralized approach.”

– Pablo Guerra, Business Development Director for Europe of LuxTag

Check the video of last year’s edition of EU Blockaton:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb3ecqzhW6g

About the EUIPO

“The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is a decentralized agency of the EU, based in Alicante, Spain. It manages the registration of the European Union trademark (EUTM) and the registered Community design (RCD), cooperation activities with the national and regional IP offices of the EU, and research and activities  to combat infringement, via the European Observatory on Infringements of IP Rights.” (Source: EUIPO press release)

®“LuxTag,” Trademark registered.