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choose from holograms, special seals, and color-shifting
inks, to name just a few. As sophisticated as they may
sound, however, Ryckman of CCL warns that none of these
solutions can do the job alone. Instead, he recommends a
multilayered approach that uses more than one technology
to verify that the product is not a fake.
That might sound like overkill, but it can help you stay
one step ahead of the bad guys. Fraudsters are becoming
example, it’s now possible to buy many
different types of holograms on Alibaba
or to reproduce bar codes or serial numbers using Photoshop. Deploying more
than one anti-counterfeiting technology
on your packaging or labels makes it
harder for fraudsters to reproduce your
markings.
For best results, a multilayered approach
should include at least one “overt technology” and one “covert technology,”
Ryckman says. “Overt” technologies are those that are
discernible to the average person with no tools or training,
but are difficult to reproduce or replicate. Some examples
include special hologram labels, watermarks on the packaging, tamperproof labels that disintegrate when they’re
peeled off, and specialty inks that change color depending
on the viewer’s angle.
“Covert” technologies, on the other hand, are those
that are not immediately discernible to the average person
and are visible only with additional tools (or that require
training on where or how to look for the authentication).
Examples include bar codes, radio-frequency identification
(RFID) tags, microtext that requires magnification to be
read, and special types of “invisible” ink that can only be
seen under infrared or ultraviolet light.
THE BACKBONE: SERIALIZATION
Whether they incorporate overt or covert technologies
(or some combination of the two), most good authentication programs make use of serialization, Ryckman says.
Serialization, or the practice of assigning a unique identification number to every item, might sound complicated, but
it’s not. It can be as simple as printing a serial number on
the product or packaging, or using a bar code.
Historically, serial numbers were only used for high-value
tion where every single case has a unique number, date, and
location, and allows for that information to be fed back into
the warehouse management system.”
Two-dimensional (2-D) bar codes, which use squares,
rectangles, and dots to encode product information, are
an especially effective tool for serialization, according to
Dave Reba, director of consumable sales for data-capture
solutions specialist Barcoding Inc. Compared with one-di-
mensional (1-D) bar codes, the 2-D versions are harder
suppliers, Ryckman warns. “Once a seri-
alization number has been duplicated, it’s
difficult to tell which product is authentic
and which one is fake,” he says.
In addition to 1-D and 2-D bar codes,
Here are just a few examples:
b Invisible bar codes. “Invisible” bar
codes are imperceptible or barely perceptible to the human eye and are typically
printed all over the package or label. Among other advantages, they can be scanned with a regular bar-code or QR
scanner (like the ones found on most smartphones). Plus,
they can encode as much information as a 2-D code can but
in a much smaller space.
Because the bar codes are embedded into an image on
the package, they’re also difficult to reproduce, according
to Tony Rodriguez, chief technology officer of the invisible
bar-code provider Digimarc. “You can’t go into any image
in Photoshop and insert [an invisible bar code] into it,” he
says. “You need the key [for deciphering the bar code], the
software, and the tools [for creating it].” Invisible bar codes
“are essentially in the DNA of the imagery,” he adds.
b Microtaggants. Microtaggants are microscopic particles that serve as a virtual fingerprint for each individual
product or item. They can consist of an inert material, an
alphanumeric code, or even a molecular or DNA tag that’s
embedded into the ink or top coat of the label or packaging.
Unlike 2-D bar codes or RFID tags, these taggants cannot
be copied, says Janice Meraglia, vice president of military
and government programs for DNA taggant producer
Applied DNA Sciences. However, they do require a special
reader. Applied DNA’s taggants, for example, require a
reader that’s about the size of a coffee can and is capable
of reading 16 different DNA taggants simultaneously in 30
minutes, Meraglia says.
b RFID. Although we’ve been hearing about radio-frequency identification for decades, RFID is only now emerging as a tool for fighting counterfeiting, Reba says.
“We’re finding that RFID is changing rapidly in terms of
the designs of labels, nanochips that go into those labels,
antennas, and the technology that reads, receives, and trans-
