Patent ID: 7502459

Claim:
A method of identifying a source of a counterfeit product unit comprising: receiving a product support request from a customer to an automated call distributor (ACD), wherein the product support request relates to a product manufactured by a receiving party; receiving a technical support identification (TSID) from the customer including establishing a data communication with the customer's product unit in response to receiving the TSID and automatically interrogating the product unit to identify the TSID for the product unit, wherein at least one of a plurality of aspects of the product unit is stored in a computer retrievable location in the product unit; validating the TSID; classifying the valid TSID as an illicit TSID classification if a unit corresponding to the TSID is identified as a counterfeit product unit including identifying the counterfeit product unit in at least one database; assigning at least one of a plurality of support levels to the classified, valid TSID wherein the assigned support level corresponds to the TSID classification and wherein the TSID is received, validated, classified and the support level assigned before an agent is notified of the product support request by the ACD; and enabling delivery of the assigned support level including notifying the customer that the product unit is illicit and denying all product support, reporting at least one of the customer or the source of the counterfeit product unit and blocking access to an agent.