"HP is committed to bringing solutions that improve how artists produce and protect their work," said HP vice president and general manager of large-format printing Santi Morera. "We are working to deliver innovative solutions, such as Arttrust, which preserve artistic integrity and add value."

Arttrust was developed by HP in conjunction with French company Prooftag and is endorsed by Wilhelm Imaging Research.

The scheme uses Prooftag's Bubble Tag technology and 2D datamatrix codes in conjunction with an online database to track each unique artwork and prove its provenance. Three stickers a silver, gold and blue, all carrying the datamatix and a unique reference number are associated with each Bubble Tag. The silver label is applied to the print, the gold to any accompanying documentation and the blue tag is kept on file by the artist.

Print buyers can check the authenticity of any tagged images by entering the reference number of the tag into the Arttrust website. This brings up a picture of the unique Bubble Tag which they can compare with the original in front of them.

The Bubbletag is a transparent polymer, each of which contains a unique and random 3D arrangement of bubbles.

Prooftag will launch the scheme commercially in January 2010 to the commercial art market, while HP will promote it to print service providers and print retailers.

The Arttrust scheme can only be used for prints produced on HP's Designjet Z series printers using its Vivera pigment inks, which are claimed to have a 200-year image permanence by HP's labs, and which is being verified by the Wilhelm Imaging Institute.