Anti-counterfeiting technology
In general terms, anti-counterfeiting technologies provide tools to help determine whether a product is genuine or fake, or has otherwise been subject to fraudulent activities. They may use different methods to do this – from attaching remote sensors to products to embedding covert identifiers within them – but, essentially, they do it by performing one or more of the following functions:
- authentication
- tracking/tracing
- anti-tampering/anti-alteration.
Definitions of these essential functions are given below.
Anti-counterfeiting technologies differ according to the combination of essential functions they perform, the methods they use to perform them and their mode of inspection – whether they can be verified by human senses or whether a special device is required. However, the characteristic shared by all anti-counterfeiting methods is the use of specific marking devices, known as markers. These are joined inseparably to the products (by various techniques) and contain the specific information that enables the technology to perform its essential function.
Authentication solutions can help protect against product fraud in a broad sense. In addition to the infringement of intellectual property rights (IPRs), this can include: deception of consumers; deception of purchasers of new goods or replacement parts; violation of national, regional or international regulations; and false claims regarding IPRs, origin of the product or details of manufacture.
Anti-counterfeiting functions
| authentication | Process by which the claimed identity and attributes of a product are verified. |
| tracking/tracing | Process of determining the intended locations or the current or past locations of a unique item along the supply chain. |
anti-tampering/
anti-alteration | Mechanism or technique to prevent meddling with a product in order to alter, falsify or somehow interfere with it. |
Product size (for physical products only)
| very small products | less than 2 cm |
| small products | between 2 and 10 cm |
| medium-sized products | between 10 and 50 cm |
| large products | more than 50 cm |
Appearance of the anti-counterfeiting technology
| invisible (covert) | Not immediately discernible to the average person and visible only with additional tools/training. |
| visible (overt) | Discernible to the average person with no tools/training and difficult to reproduce/replicate, such as a tamper seal. |
Reading device
| reading device | any electronic device that can scan, capture, process and/or interpret the data contained in an anti-counterfeiting marker. |
Connection to server
| connection to server | A relationship in which one program (the client) requests a service or resource from another program (the server). |
Type of product
| physical product | in general, a product is defined as a 'thing produced by labour or effort' or the 'result of an act or a process. |
| digital product | a digital product is any product which users can purchase and access through their computers, phones and tablets without any physical installation requirement. |
Product and packaging
| product | Goods, or component of goods to which the technical solution applies. |
| packaging | The wrapping material around a consumer item that serves to contain, identify, describe, protect, display, promote and otherwise make the product marketable and keep it clean. |