Jun 15, 2020
The Berlin start-up Sentryc enables automated product and brand protection on the Internet. For this purpose, the software scans online marketplaces and the Social Web for potential counterfeits, reports incidents and provides IT-based support for removal from the net.
Berlin, June 2020: Made in Germany has long been a selling point. Even clever plagiarists, who are expanding digital distribution channels in fast-growing market economies, know this. From poorly implemented to brazen, the resulting imitations depict everything that pains the developer's heart and cause damage in the millions. To put a stop to the product pirates, however, victims need more than Google and Co. to Sentryc track them down using AI and give rights holders the power to end illegal offers with a single click.
Who has the damage The German Engineering Federation recently published its new study on product piracy 2020 [1]. In this study, the VDMA estimates the current damage caused by plagiarism at 7.6 billion euros. Compared to the previous study from 2018, this means that the loss of sales will increase by 300 million euros. On average, the damage per company amounts to 4.9 percent of annual sales. These figures only reflect sales losses, not the long-term damage to the company's image and the associated drop in orders. Disappointed customers no longer buy products from this manufacturer and counterfeit components and spare parts can have disastrous consequences. For example, a counterfeit sealing ring of correspondingly low quality cannot withstand the high pressure that the original can withstand, and bursts with terrible consequences for man and machine.
Protection for large and small
The middle class as the backbone of the German economy is made up of companies with commitment and sound knowledge. Especially companies that do not operate globally offer counterfeiters an easy target: high-quality products without any surveillance. There is a high risk for cross-sector product innovations. In order to put an end to blatant theft, Sentryc a start-up company with new technology is on the scene.
Intelligent software with 24/7 visibility
Sentrycs software searches more than 120 international online marketplaces and all leading social networks at any time of day or night. Based on Machine Learning, its search algorithm combines relevant keywords, detailed descriptions and images to find potential violations. The Marketplace Scan and Social Media Scan solutions also cover the matching of manipulated images, photos of fakes or products and logos as well as suspicious links and hashtags. In addition to product counterfeiting, the Marketplace Scan and Social Media Scan solutions also help Sentryc to protect against trademark misuse and copyright infringements on these platforms
Banish the powerlessness
Thanks to the Berliners, companies can defend themselves against illegal offers with just one click. They use the "Take Down" button to decide which potential counterfeits or violations they want to remove. In the best case, the offers disappear within 24 hours and cause no further damage. Special automation rules or features such as blacklists and whitelists also help to keep an overview at all times: curious merchants are permanently banned, licensed merchants are not even targeted via the whitelist. Regular reports as well as up-to-date figures and sources on the dashboard illustrate success and progress. The software documents all relevant data including screenshots of suspicious offers for possible prosecution.
"I see our commitment to finding counterfeit products and making their removal as easy as possible as a social duty and I have an open ear for every affected company that contacts us," says Nicole Hofmann, SentrycCEO. "We would like to contribute to creating more transparency and provide companies with a tool with which they can defend themselves internationally.
About Sentryc
The Sentryc GmbH is a technology company founded in 2019 with headquarters in Berlin and locations in Barcelona and Szczecin. The current 25-member team around managing director Nicole Jasmin Hofmann offers companies a digital solution with its proprietary brand protection software, which can be used to detect and stop product piracy and brand misuse in online marketplaces. The online experts provide their customers with a cloud solution that searches websites for products, identifies and documents potential counterfeits and then automatically reports them for deletion. Well-known companies such as Junghans, Fischerwerke or the Solingen Chamber of Commerce and Industry trust in Sentrycs Produktschutzmade in Germany. Prioritizing data protection, the company hosts its products in Germany and works in compliance with DSGVO. Further information is available at www.sentryc.com
[1] https://industrialsecurity.vdma.org/viewer/-/v2article/render/48531930