Australian intellectual property rights issuer IP Australia has teamed up with Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) to run a pilot to enable NRL to tackle the issue of counterfeit merchandise in the market. IP Australia is the Australian Government agency that administers intellectual property (IP) rights and legislation.
IP Australia will use its blockchain-powered platform called Smart Trade Mark that issues a Trust Badge, a digital stamp of authenticity, to help consumers identify authentic products and increase their trust in the brands they purchase.
The Trust Badge provides visual proof that products are authentic by digitally linking between the online store and the brand's registered trade mark to verify NRL's merchandise websites such as nrlshop.com and savvysupporter.com.au.
The Trust Badge is attached to each of these websites to help increase the customer's confidence of shopping online for original merchandise. The Smart Trade Mark platform uses blockchain technology and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to connect information about the trade mark, such as who the owner is and where it has been used digitally.
Smart Trade Mark enables the trade mark owner to authenticate their products or services, the places they are selling them, and their supply chains by digitally linking them to the trade mark.
IP Australia has already found success in the preliminary findings from the trial and is working towards making Smart Trade Mark publicly available by continuing to trial the platform to ensure that it meets the needs of businesses.
NRLShop.com stocks thousands of items for footy fans of all shapes and sizes. It only carries authentic and officially licensed apparel, headwear, giftware, equipment and accessories from top brands such as ISC, Canterbury, XBlades, Asics, Classic, New Era, and more.
Smart Trade Mark is a government initiative being trialed to modernize trade marks, enabling brands to better protect themselves against misuse and counterfeit. The platform allows trade mark owners to connect digitally to the government register to prove they are the authentic owner of a brand.
Trade mark owners can create as many Trust Badge's as they need, by applying and providing the web address where the Trust Badge will be displayed. It is currently being trialed with industry and government partners.
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