Hi everyone! Excited to share my first published patent which includes elements from two of my passions: Digital Retail Product Identities and the Blockchain. This patent introduces a model that incentivizes consumer behaviors to combat counterfeit and black/gray market goods, while also connecting brands & consumers in a circular model that benefits both. We're in licensing discussions with several parties, if you're an interested party please reach out!
To summarize, digital product identities used in retail are generally implemented via RFID, NFC, RF, or AM sensors, or printed codes like data-matrix/QR and UPC barcodes primarily for B2B use-cases in loss prevention, anti-counterfeit, and inventory management. Despite success with these B2B applications a compelling consumer focused digital twin identity is required to reach the ubiquitous use needed to make a meaningful impact for consumers, brands, & marketplace’s. Our thesis is unlocking consumers to genuinely care about claiming & pairing these digital twin identity’s (regardless of authentication protocols used, e.g.- RFID, QR, etc.), imbued with the brand funded rights as described in the system, is what’s lacking to drive circular authentic trade that directly benefits each party in the goods ecosystem. Our patent addresses this gap with a digital twin that novelly benefits consumers financially and organically - tackling the incentives counterfeit and stolen goods currently thrive in.
At the point of sale, consumers are given the option to claim a digital twin of their purchase, primarily stored in their Apple or Google wallet (ideally- serializing each article via a web3 NFT smart contract with a public/private blockchain ledger- however, the patent applies to & can use traditional web2 infrastructures too). This digital twin offers incentives when listing items via platforms such as StockX, Meta/FB Marketplace, eBay, or Poshmark, and this is where the magic happens - a core novel tenant of our patent: consumers use the brand authorized, funded, & issued digital twin to optionally accept higher merchandise credit value payouts for the sale of their good.. redeemable back at the same original retailer/brand that sold the good and issued its original digital twin (brands are happy to fund this given the advance on future sales they're receiving), & this consumer benefit + monetization opportunity exists for the brand each time the good changes hands throughout its lifecycle! This system directly benefits (with a clear ROI) all parties in the goods chain: the original retailer/brand, marketplace, and consumer, boosting the resale value of authentic items while reducing the appeal of counterfeit trade.
We've developed a click-through wireframe experience to simulate the experience between brand, consumer, & resale marketplace. Happy to share!
