The Publishing Community Group Anti-Counterfeit Taskforce addresses the growing issue of illegitimate publication of books on online platforms, often involving false attribution and fraudulent content.

It explores variants of the issue, such as re-publishing entire or partial content, or using original metadata and cover images with different content. The group highlights that the burden of monitoring and enforcement currently falls heavily on publishers, while some large platforms fail to take adequate action.

Potential countermeasures focus on faster discovery and response, and ultimately on preventing illegitimate listings.

At this moment one key proposed countermeasure is the use of Declarations of original content utilizing the ISCC (International Standard Content Code) system and Verifiable Credentials (VCs). This process involves publishers generating ISCC codes from cover images, specifying declaration metadata, using VCs for attribution, and publicly declaring this information (e.g., on public blockchain networks). Third parties can then compare the ISCC codes of retail listings with original declarations to flag potential fraud. The ISCC-based solution is presented as a cheap, decentralized, and multi-purpose approach to increasing the trustworthiness of content claims.

Discussions in Issues

Issues are using label:”counterfeit TF”