EUIPO launches anti-counterfeiting blockchain competition

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has launched a worldwide competition which aims to unlock the potential of blockchain to combat counterfeiting. 

Through the EUIPO’s European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights and in partnership with the European Commission, the competition is the first-ever “EU Blockathon”. 

Blockchain technology allows different parties to share and manage data stored online without a central authority.

Taking place from June 22 to 25 in Brussels, the Blockathon will bring together coders and “creative minds” to co-create prototypes for a blockchain solution to the problem of counterfeiting.

Teams of coders, blockchain experts and stakeholders have been invited to join the Blockathon and compete for a €100,000 ($122,998) prize.

According to the EUIPO, the teams can “help make the world a safer and better place by giving enforcement authorities the tools to rapidly identify fakes and criminal activity, by helping legitimate companies to protect their business assets and by providing the tools for consumers to make informed, genuine, choices”.  

More information can be found at www.blockathon.eu.

Earlier this year, TBO reported that South Korea-based blockchain company Glosfer has united with Gemmy Company, which provides a platform to protect music copyright, to create a copyright protection platform for the music industry-based on blockchain technology.