User: vly3

Manufacturers need to track locations of serial #s

On: Counterfeit Cisco Gear Showing Up In US

Manufacturers could track the locations of product serial numbers through production and distribution and out to the retail outlets. Duplicate serial numbers in disparate locations would get flagged as counterfeit. Consumers should have a way to look up the serial number of a product before they buy it, and verify that it is at the retail location where it is supposed to be, and that it hasn't been flagged counterfeit. Companies could cost effectively defeat counterfeiting of their products this way and consumers would know they are buying the real thing. I wrote a paper which describes how to use location tracking of serial numbers to defeating counterfeiting. The paper starts out describing an idea for anti-counterfeit labels using a smart chip with electronic ink, but further down in the paper, it also describes how to do it with just location tracking of printed serial numbers. The paper, titled "Anti-counterfiet authenticity labels - smart chips with electronic ink and wireless i/o - duplicate serial number detection" is posted at IP.COM and also on my friend's web site:
http://above-the-garage.com/rblts/Vincent-Labels.h tm