Japanese and US high-tech giants Hitachi and Oracle plan to expand their IC tag business to help China fight against rampant counterfeiting, a company official said on June 4.
IC tags are tiny microchips that contain special identification codes and other data, which can help track down counterfeiting in anything from tickets to luxury goods. Hitachi Ltd and Oracle have introduced an IC tag in China which it hopes the country will use to embed tickets for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, a Hitachi official said.
"At a New Year's event in Shanghai this year, we embedded our IC tags into tickets and successfully detected so many counterfeit tickets. We believe that made a big impression on the Chinese authorities," he said on condition of anonymity.
China has faced growing criticism from its trading partners over piracy. The United States in April lodged a complaint against China with the World Trade Organisation over counterfeited luxury goods and DVDs.
The Expo, which Shanghai officials expect to attract 70 million people over six months, is one of the major upcoming events meant to showcase China's rising clout.
The Hitachi official said it was uncertain if its IC tags would be available for tickets to the 2008 Beijing Olympics due to issues over corporate sponsorship.