Among all the games and Apps that are offered daily for our mobile phones and smartphones, one emerges that could become a Trojan horse to defeat the counterfeiting of Made in Italy products. A start-up of two young Romans – her name is Valuette – in fact offers an App which recognizes the codes placed by the producers, thus allowing the prudent consumer to understand whether he is buying a high-quality Made in Italy product or a banal imitation.
Let's see how it works. A counterfeiter buys a Made in Italy product, copies its logo, applies what has been imitated on summary copies and floods the market with pirated products. However, every single asset placed on the market could bring back alabel consisting of a two-dimensional barcode (Quick Response Code or more simply QR code) encrypted or not. The information encoded inside it could be limited to the simple logo of the manufacturer or go as far as a finite sequence of characters.
Such a code it has the characteristic of being recognized by mobile phones and smartphones. In fact, a simple application inside them allows the acquisition of the image and the sending of the information contained to the control portal. Each consumer therefore has the opportunity to query the label and check whether the product purchased is an "original" or a "fake". This App allows real-time data analysis and the immediate sending of confirmation of the type of good, according to the provisions of the manufacturer's commercial policy, directly to the end user's mobile phone or terminal. A coupon without a QR code would be a fake. A coupon provided with a QR code, but whose sequence is not recognized, would also be a fake. A consumer or in any case a purchaser of products with these coupons would be able to immediately understand whether he is buying, for example, a real bottle of vintage Barolo produced by a high quality winery or a counterfeit product. Of course the same could be true for many others Made in Italy products, such as extra virgin olive oil, other agri-food products, or clothing, shoes, furnishings and so on (the range of our products imitated abroad is so vast that their list would take many pages).
Every code is expected single use (but if manufacturer policy required it the consultation could be adjusted a finite number of times) then attempting to use an already tested or unofficial label would make no sense as the message returned to the consumer checking it would confirm the inactivity or non-existence of the QR code. Moreover the presence of such a label would differentiate, with a negligible expense, high quality products, in a certain sense certifying it through a manufacturer's guarantee.
The same logic, applied to the guarantee certification of any product, would link producer and consumer electronically, streamlining paper correspondence between the parties. Further expanding the use of the App, even the confirmation of receipt of documents or goods, the activation of contractual relationships, the validation of titles (travel tickets, show tickets, vouchers…), could be resolved with a simple click.
Attached we give the coordinates of the creators of this simple – but effective – solution to the problems of many of our manufacturers, for those interested in more information its cost and applicability.
Attachments: An App to protect Made in Italy.pdf
