Today at BASELWORLD 2009, WISekey, a leading provider of smartcard technology, announced that it will provide Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot, a certification system that will help reduce counterfeiting among the luxury watch industry.
As a WISekey customer, all Hublot watches will be protected by WISeAuthentic©, a certification system of authenticity through a smartcard. By leveraging this technology, online shopping and auction Websites have the ability to provide its users a safe, secure transaction, by controlling counterfeited goods in its product range.
“Counterfeiting represents approximately five to seven percent of all world trade,” said Carlos Moreira, CEO of WISekey. “Therefore, with the luxury brand industries estimated to reach one trillion dollars (US) by 2010, these companies need a solution that will prove authenticity. We are pleased that Hublot saw the value in WISeAuthentic and look forward to helping them, and others, in the fight against counterfeiting.”
As a trusted and secure platform, WISeAuthentic will be used by the purchaser to access an encrypted area of Hublot’s Website where the watch can be definitively identified as part of Hublot’s inventory. Each smartcard that is given at the time of purchase, in addition to its Certificate of Origin, is unique to each watch and contains full details of the product including registration number, barcode, place where it was manufactured, among other details. If the encrypted information on the watch, does not match that of the WISeAuthentic smartcard, access will be denied.
“In the watch industry we are seeing a significant increase in counterfeit goods,” said Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Hublot. “It was imperative for us as a company to find a way to not only protect our watches but also those who were purchasing them. WISekey has a strong track record in security and authentication and when looking for a partner to help us in the fight against counterfeiting we knew WISekey was the right choice for us.”