DSS Inc (DSS)

[jonnymars]

Maybe it's time I shared with you all an email I pinged to Mr Cook:

From: j**************
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Beats headphones
Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 12:01:14 +0000

Dear Tim

Congratulations on your acquisition of the Beats brand. I hope you bought the real deal because the good doctor's headphones are some of the most counterfeited products on the planet at present!

See for instance:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22469347

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/13/business/china-fake-headphones-dr-dre-beats/

My travels to Dubai, Istanbul, Moscow, Kiev, Budapest and various other destinations all confirm this. And we're not talking flea market stalls here, rather they are sold in what appear to be regular and legitimate high street retailers, and buyers seem none the wiser.

Ebay is also full of them:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xdr+dre+beats&_nkw=dr+dre+beats&_sacat=0&_from=R40

The same is true of many Apple products and accessories. Yet it's incredible that we should have this problem in the age of information and technology.

Apple could take the lead and help solve this problem overnight. How about an app that allows you to scan some security tag on the product packaging with your iphone (one that cannot be replicated by the counterfeiters) and which tells you instantly whether the product is real or not?

There is a little known company known as Documents Security Systems, who provide just this solution. It is called Authentiguard and they were recently featured on TV as seen here:

http://authentiguard.com/contactff.html

Counterfeiting is a huge global problem, a $250B a year problem according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime:

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2014/January/counterfeit-dont-buy-into-organized-crime---unodc-launches-new-outreach-campaign-on-250-billion-a-year-counterfeit-business.html

Imagine some shady retailer trying to pass you a pair of knock off beats as real. You could instantly call his bluff by taking out your smartphone and showing him the result on your app. Needless to say, things would also be made easier for law enforcement.

Like most people, I like Apple for a number of reasons including the whole turnaround story by the late Steve Jobs, the pioneering products it has given us and generally the superior products that Apple have tended to be. If Apple adopts the technology and publicizes it, I am sure others would follow suit.

I feel it is up to the company that gave us "the app" to take the lead in this.

Best

*****