Counterfeiting, a world scourge, has kept growing and now affects most industries. The situation is so bad, that last year the organizers of an auction in the United States made a decision, so seldom seen elsewhere, to postpone an exceptional sale of an "imperial" six liter bottle of 1961 Château Pétrus so they could check its authenticity. Suspicions had been sparked about the rare bottle whose price was certainly going to go through the roof, perhaps reaching more than 100,000 dollars, according to some experts.
It is easy to see why the ATS (Authenticity-Traceability-Security) project initiated by Dijon-based business angel Jean-Paul Dussausse, the founder of Transmissions, is so promising. Certified by the Vitagora competitive cluster, the project has brought in partners such as Dijon-based Lara Spiral, Nantes-based MHS, IBM, and the Imprimerie Nationale (the national printing press) and relies on a Scientific Committee chaired by Charles Auffray, a renowned CNRS researcher, and whose members include Pierre Dusserre, Director of the Pathology Center of Dijon or winegrower Bernard Hudelot.
The first tests run jointly with four winegrowers from Burgundy, Beaujolais, Champagne and Cognac have already begun and are scheduled to continue for about two years. The target is that every product, be it a wine bottle, a perfume bottle or a fowl, carry its own "digital print", i.e., a number that will make it possible to authenticate the product with certainty and consequently fight counterfeiting efficiently.
