Brand Protection: extra Security Feature of Anti-Counterfeit RFID Labels
RFID or NFC technology is the necessary approach for Anti-Counterfeit or Brand protection. Here we introduce some add on features we can embed with our RFID label or RFID sticker.
How Counterfeit Destroy Company Reputation?
In the retailing business, counterfeiting is an emerging problem and on-going threat against brand protection. It has the potential to destroy large-scale volume sales quickly, pushing the brand owners to adopt protective strategies and to make sure that every product sold by them must follow complete authenticity and authorization.
Some counterfeits and tampering technologies are so good in their work that it becomes hard for officials to fight against them. Counterfeiters always play with product packages and external displays to make its clone and duplicates. Once they produced forged products, they sell them on their behalf, allowing them to harm the company’s reputation through faked products.
Why Brands Need Anti-Counterfeiting Techniques?
All of these fraud activities by counterfeiters not only cause chaos in destroying a company’s reputation but also create substantial economic losses. That’s why brands and retailers demand anti-counterfeiting and anti-tampering measures to avoid profit loss and secure company name. Owners may adopt one to two anti-counterfeiting techniques depending upon the retailing industry type and business needs. There are only four categories of anti-counterfeiting measures; Overt, Covert, Forensic, and Digital. The names of anti-counterfeiting techniques and their security features are as follows;
Guilloche Patterns
These spirograph-like patterns are commonly used in documents, passports, banknotes to prevent counterfeiter activities. The pattern looks like a wavy decorative line or curves that follow geometry rules. Due to their thin and fine lines, counterfeiters can’t make the exact pattern with any ordinary or latest color-coding printer.
Holograms
It is a type of photographic technique that extracts the light scattered from a product to form a 3D image of that product. In the retailing business, it is used to print tags, stickers, hot-stamped patches, and inlays to provide authenticity of products. Hologram technology is an overt authentication technique that provides protective lines, making it ineffective for counterfeiters to copy the original products but helping the companies to authorize their products easily. Sometimes owners use 2D holographic images to embed in their company logo, enabling them to discourage replication.
Microtext
Microtext is an ever-evolving technique to fight against cloners and counterfeiters. It is commonly used in banknotes and currency notes. In this anti-counterfeiting technique, the text or code is extremely small, making it hard to perform replication, and even advanced computers find it difficult to identify actual text. Officials put microtext characters inside the large text, into plain pictures, or any design of the product so that consumers can hardly notice it.
Since these microtext codes are difficult to find, cloners can’t find their exact location, and thus, they won’t produce microtext. As counterfeiters only copy the visible data, it helps the officials to determine whether the sold product is theirs or not. Officials use magnifying equipment or glass to read this microtext.
Watermarks
Watermarks are used in banknotes, postage stamps, government documents, and product design to discourage counterfeiting and tampering. Watermarks are recognized images and patterns comprising of various shapes and shades that are observed by changing the density of document or intensity of transmitted light. In this way, owners and retailers support the authenticity and integrity of their products.
Forensic Taggants
Taggants are small, thin aluminum particles with a size of 20 to 40 micron. Forensic taggants are special materials that can’t be recognized by the naked eye, and they need advanced laboratory equipment or magnifying system to read them properly. Owners insert taggant materials into the substrate to maintain the authenticity of goods and services.
2D Barcodes and QR Codes
A large number of brick and mortar industries use two-dimensional barcodes and quick-responses codes to support the authenticity of their products. These codes are produced by digital printing technology containing a unique product ID for every product. If the duplicate copy of the product passes through the Barcode scanner, it is immediately captured by a barcode reader to perform validation.
DNA Marking
DNA marking is another useful anti-counterfeiting technique and is commonly used by forensic departments to support the integrity of evidence. In this technique, a specific DNA mark is assigned to each item, which is unique and can’t be reproduced or duplicated, helping the companies to fight against counterfeiters and tampered products.
Brands need anti-counterfeiting techniques to protect items from evolving forgers and to maintain the audacity of products throughout the distribution centers, supply chain, and even after the product being sold.
