ANTI-COUNTERFEITING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20100241528A1
• Filed: 01/20/2010
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Inventors: Hanks, Virginia M., Hedges, Herbert C., Brown, Kevin R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,374,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials

Abstract

An online auction website has anti-counterfeiting measures. The website requires a seller of an item to input information about the product for sale, including at least a brand of the product and a product identification code. If the brand code and product identification code are not entered, the website does not allow the seller to post the item for sale. If entered, the brand and the product identification code are included in the listing on the online auction webpage that advertises the product for sale during the auction period. Verification may be performed on the item to determine its authenticity. The verification process includes comparing the listed brand and product identification codes with a plurality of authentic brand and product identification codes. When the brand and product identification codes are determined to be counterfeit, the listing is terminated and the sale of counterfeit items is prevented.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, cause the apparatus to;

present a webpage for creating a listing for an item for sale in an online auction, wherein the listing requires at least a manufacturer and a product code associated with the item for sale;

post the listing on an online auction website if the product code is authentic; and

facilitate a sale of the item.

2. The apparatus recited in claim 1, wherein the memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, cause the apparatus to compare the product code to authentic product codes for the manufacturer.

3. The apparatus recited in claim 1, wherein the memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, cause the apparatus to verify that the product code matches the number and type of digits for authentic product codes for the manufacturer.

4. The apparatus recited in claim 1, wherein if the product code is not an authentic product code, the apparatus prohibits the listing from being posted on the online auction website.

5. The apparatus recited in claim 4, wherein the memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, cause the apparatus to identify the seller of the item for sale.

6. The apparatus recited in claim 5, wherein the memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, cause the apparatus to enforce a consequence on the seller.

7. The apparatus recited in claim 1, wherein the item is an article of footwear.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, cause the apparatus to;

present to the user a webpage for creating a listing for an item to be sold in an online auction, the listing including at least one of a manufacturer and a sub-brand of the item;

query the user to enter a product code for the item based at least on part on at least one of the manufacturer and the sub-brand;

if the user is unable to provide a product code, prohibit the listing from posting to a website for the online auction; and

if the user provides a product code, verify that the product code is authentic.

9. The apparatus recited in claim 8, wherein the sub-brand is manufactured by the manufacturer.

10. The apparatus recited in claim 9, wherein the user identifies the sub-brand and does not identify the manufacturer for the item.

11. The apparatus recited in claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, further cause the apparatus to present a query to the user that requires the user to include the manufacturer in the listing.

12. The apparatus recited in claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, further cause the apparatus to place the listing on hold until the user provides a product code for the item.

14. The apparatus recited in claim 8, wherein the memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, further cause the apparatus to, upon verifying that the product code is authentic, verifying that the authentic product code matches the item in the listing.

15. The apparatus recited in claim 8, wherein the item is an article of footwear.

13. The apparatus recited in 8, wherein the memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, further cause the apparatus to compare the product code to authentic product codes for the manufacturer.

16. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving information from a user about an item the user wants to sell in an online auction, the information including at least one of a manufacturer of the item and a sub-brand of the item;

sending data to the user requiring that the user input a product code for the item to be sold based at least in part on at least one of the manufacturer of the item and the sub-brand of the item;

verifying the product code as an authentic product code for at least one of the manufacturer and the sub-brand;

verifying the authentic product code matches the item being sold; and

sending data to the user notifying the user that the user is permitted to create a listing for the item that includes the authentic product code and at least one of the manufacturer and the sub-brand of the item; and

posting the listing on a website designed to facilitate the online auction.

17. The method recited in claim 16, wherein the sub-brand is manufactured by the manufacturer.

18. The method recited in claim 16, wherein the step of verifying the product code as an authentic product code includes comparing the product code to known authentic product codes for the manufacturer of the item and the sub-brand.

19. The method recited in claim 16, wherein the step of verifying the authentic product codes matches the item being sold includes identifying at least one characteristic of the products sold by the manufacturer with the authentic product code and matching each of the at least one characteristic of the products with the item being sold in the online auction with the at least one characteristic of the products sold by the manufacturer with the authentic product code.

20. The method recited in claim 16, wherein the item is an article of footwear.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a memory having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed, cause the apparatus to;

present to the user a webpage for creating a listing for an article of footwear to be sold in an online auction, the listing including at least one of a manufacturer and a sub-brand of the article of footwear;

query the user to enter a product code for the item based on at least one of the manufacturer and the sub-brand;

verify the authenticity of the product code by at least one of comparing the product code to known authentic product codes for the manufacturer and confirming that the product code contains the correct number and type of alphanumeric digits for known authentic products codes for articles of footwear for at least one of the manufacturer and the sub-brand;

if the user is unable to provide an authentic product code, prohibit the listing from posting on the website for the online auction;

if the user is able to provide an authentic product code, verify that the authentic product code matches the article of footwear in the listing by at least one of images, style, and color;

if the authentic product code does not match the article of footwear in the listing, prohibiting the listing from posting on the website for the online auction; and

if the authentic product code is provided by the user and the authentic product code matches the article of footwear in the listing, post the listing on the website for the online auction.