Hitachi and Oracle introduce anti-piracy tags in China

Considering the sensational amount of knockoff gadgetry and counterfeit software that manages to emerge in China, it's only surprising that it has taken this long for a company (or two) to unveil a legitimate solution to at least curb the amount of black market goods that leave the country. Reportedly, Oracle will be teaming up with Hitachi to "jointly market wireless IC tags in China that can be used to identify whether products are real or not," meaning that tagged goods can now be easily identified as authentic when placed over a reader. The tags will be made and distributed by Hitachi and the duo of firms will promote the usage of said anti-piracy measures with the Tokyo-based Ubiquitous ID Center which issues and manages IC tags. Initially, the tags will purportedly be used with tickets for the upcoming Beijing Olympics and Expo 2010 in Shanghai, but there was no word on any planned rollouts or potential takers outside of these two events. Still, for Japanese wares makers that operate in China, ¥10 ($0.08) a pop for these piracy-thwarting tags sounds like an awfully fair deal. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

[Via Yahoo]

[SlyEcho @ Jun 5th 2007 8:40AM]

Wouldn't they just knock off the tags as well?

[SCH @ Jun 5th 2007 8:49AM]

Photo is that of Petaling Street in Malaysia. I guess it's relevant to "china" as it's the Chinatown area of the city! :)

[anantha92 @ Jun 5th 2007 8:58AM]

How is petaling street in china, i hate it when people make such stupid mistakes, yeah it is in china so yea. You think the chinese the kings of piracy would listen to them?

[Teren @ Jun 5th 2007 8:58AM]

LOL. Why is a picture of Malaysia being used ?

[Scptt Davidson @ Jun 5th 2007 9:42AM]

If man can make it, man can fake it. The more complicated the lock, the easier to break it, as it will inheritently be dependent on some small simple process. What a waste of time and money.

[thunder @ Jun 5th 2007 9:53AM]

i cannot believe that you guys can be so ignorant as to use a picture of a Malaysian location for an article on China. How about take a photo of Chinatown in the US instead? From what i see it would not make it any worse.

[SOyuncastor @ Jun 5th 2007 10:02AM]

yeah! if you can use that pic why not texas?!

[Vidikron @ Jun 5th 2007 10:34AM]

Because that street is a knock-off of China... duh. Over your heads apparently.

[neo @ Jun 5th 2007 10:38AM]

Hahaha, many people here were busy about correcting the mistake that they (including myself) dont give a damn about the story. Please change the picture.

[dudeInAmerica @ Jun 5th 2007 10:58AM]

This is not gonna slow down a darn thing.

Who really looks to buy legit goods from street markets in china?

[joey @ Jun 5th 2007 11:30AM]

indeed... it is Malaysia not China. this kind of mistake shouldnt happen on an informative site like Engadget, which by the way I really respect... pls correct this asap

[SigmaProjects @ Jun 5th 2007 12:02PM]

In my opinion, this wont curb anything, people will still buy the knockoffs

[DaveA @ Jun 5th 2007 1:52PM]

Arrogant? No. Ignorant? Yes.

How long will it be before factories are running off fake tags? It did not take long with the holographic stickers that the Chinese government introduced at one stage so I don't suppose this will be much different.

BTW I am I the only one to have bought pirate software and DVDs in Petaling Street? No, I thought not.

[KC @ Jun 5th 2007 2:48PM]

This will be a good way for anyone not to pay too much for pirated stuff. Scan it... not original, should be cheaper! Way to go!

[mod @ Jun 5th 2007 3:42PM]

Malaysia is the new China?
Been a long time since I've seen Petaling Street....didn't know they build a new "gateway" there.
Thanks Engadget for the update!

[nemu-iii @ Jun 5th 2007 3:55PM]

apparently Petaling Street is the forefront for importing all these Chinese knockoffs to the streets of Malaysia. Its sorta like the testing grounds for these things. Lolx.. Come to Malaysia, get good food and Windows for less than 5USD. Hack included...

[kin @ Jun 5th 2007 7:16PM]

How much different is Malaysia and China? We are the same bunch of pirates. It's shameful that the things sold at Petaling Street are all cheap knockoff. I went to Malacca Jonker Walk last week, it is whole different scenario. I can barely see any pirated product. Shame shame on KL.

[lucideas.com @ Jun 5th 2007 11:22PM]

because it's visit malaysia year 2007. new form of viral marketing :)

[StopSpamming @ Jun 6th 2007 2:02AM]

Well, since China is the future of Asia,
and Malaysia is Truly Asia...I am sure there must be
some ad budget being allocated by the Tourism Board
for Engadget to promote Petaling Street to the world, no?

Lets sing together...Malaysiaaa....truly Asiaaa...... :-)

[Luna @ Jun 6th 2007 2:44AM]

What if China copied Petaling St. as well?

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/04/keepin-it-real-fake-part-lv-disneyland/