US border agency tests IP blockchain solution
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is testing a blockchain system with the potential for enhancing the agency’s ability to protect US businesses from IP rights theft.
The trial is acting as a proof of concept, said a CBP statement released on Friday, 28 February, and is “the first-of-its-kind test of standards and specifications to facilitate blockchain interoperability”.
The test allows the agency to connect data to a product and its licence, resulting in fewer physical examinations, added the statement.
This is accomplished via blockchain interoperability: each organisation participating in a transaction can communicate with others using their unique blockchain, regardless of different software used by each party. A major benefit being companies have the flexibility to select and customise technology that suits their unique needs, said the statement.
Theoretically, blockchain is tamper-proof, since a user can’t alter a single record on the blockchain without altering the whole, and each record contains all the information about all previous records.
“This pilot represents great potential for marrying new technology with our traditional trade mission, namely to protect the US economy,” said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner, CBP’s office of trade.
The US hopes blockchain technology (in which trade secrets can be kept safe through the use of encrypted keys) can protect IP rights on US imports as well as sensitive information transmitted between multiple parties using a single, streamlined platform.
Said James Byram, executive director, CBP’s Office of Trade, “We are excited to be applying these innovative solutions to the protection of IP rights, and continue to enhance CBP’s business intelligence capabilities for advancing trade facilitation, security, and enforcement objectives.”
The tests drew wide participation from the trade community, said the statement, and companies participating in this “interoperable system experience cost savings as the technology platform eliminates the need to rebuild a blockchain every time a new entity with different software participates”.
The CBP is the largest federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security, and regulates international trade, collects import duties, and enforcing US border regulation. It provided no information regarding the start date for testing, or a possible end date.
In June 2019, the FDA chose Merck & Co, IBM, KPMG, and Walmart to form a pilot project aimed at evaluating the use of blockchain to protect pharmaceutical product integrity, by identifying and tracing certain prescription drugs as they were distributed within the US.
The project was authorised under the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), an act which increased the FDA’s ability to help protect consumers from exposure to counterfeit, stolen, contaminated or otherwise harmful drugs.
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