Protect intellectual property and prevent product counterfeiting - the IT perspective

Product counterfeiting is a major challenge for all industry nations worldwide. It must be fought at several levels, ranging from policy, over legal issues up to organization and technical measures. This article concentrates on the technical perspective, especially the challenges and potential solutions in the field of information technology. On the one hand, the internet is introducing a high risk in collaborative product development. On the other hand, there are many tools and technologies available to protect intellectual property. Various concrete IT solutions are available that range from data filtering over enterprise rights management up to trusted computing. The joint activities of the German automotive sector for secure product creation are presented and an outlook to further research and development is given.